Beoz

Sadly a third nail bar has opened up on my high street. Us men were hoping for a wine bar. Anyhow, the local trouble and strife's are loving it. There is a bit of a price war on. They can sit there, have their nails done, have a cup of tea, and talk local gossip with the nail girl.

I wonder if the ladies would go if its automated without the ability to catch up on local gossip.

GarryP

Nobody has developed that machine out of 'The Fifth Element' yet ...



And thinking about it, it would be totally possible now.

Thing is, the shopping streets and malls is getting to be only a small segment of the total retail market, in general those heavily dependent on actually being there. So personal services, fashion shops, eating places - and then the supermarkets and finance. As an ecosystem, it's hollowing out. When the supermarkets decide there's more money in online and close up, they will likely take these bricks and mortar stores with them. Have you ever seen a failed retail mall? They are creepy places, one or two cheap stores, and an echo.

Shard

Creepy retail malls are the future, unfortunately. Once the anchor tenants go, there's not much of a future. I think big city centres will continue to have destination/showcase malls, but out of town will they will reduce.

Wol

The issue is probably not whether they can negotiate traffic, unexpected drivers' behaviour etc, but whether they can do all this all the time.If there are say areas that they won't work in or which have problems with, it's going to be impractical to own one and constantly have to disengage the autopilot even if you know where the problem areas are - and these are likely to change on a minute by minute basis.
Autonomous cars have to be exactly that - no ifs, no buts and no "owner override". That's a long way from happening.

ozzieeagle

I think they will "Make" it happen in China, hence we are going to be left way way behind here in the West.

Beoz

The point is, women especially love a bit of in store, in mall experience.

Now you may not as a man, I refuse to visit Coles, but my wife loves it.

As you know, the shopping malls and high streets that survive offer more than retail. It's all about offering experiences.

The nail bar is a classic place. Does woman really want to stick her hand in a machine or do they want to ability to chat, have someone fussing over them, etc?

Amazulu

After 2030 maybe

And depending on how much IP they can half-inch - something they've been pretty good at so far. Maybe DT's new cold-war against China will slow that down somewhat

Amazulu

So much of what our supposed automated future will look like comes from young-ish White and Asian male nerds in the tech hubs of California - soy boys basically. It's a beta male version of what they think the world will be and may bear no semblance to reality

Just because something can be potentially automated, doesn't mean it will be - nail bars for instance

GarryP

You are considering these places, like nail bars, to be 'third places' - meeting spots where the service is secondary to the social aspect (coffee shops are the same). That's fine, and there's certainly a need for them, but they aren't really tied to the service, or the location, and they aren't sufficient to keep a mall working. In short, they feed off of social spaces, they don't really create them.

A creepy, empty, mall, won't have the nail bars for long.

Also, you'll note, men aren't particularly well served by 'third places' - at least ones that aren't bars. Market opportunity there.

Shard

You don't think they have thought of that?

​Addison Lee AV​​​​​​

Amazulu

2021?
London?

Beoz

It's the creepy malls in the US that have gone under. The Westfields have gone from strength to strength. Why? They offer more than creep.

Shard

Apparently it's easier to deploy AV tech in high density city environment than in lower density suburban/country environments. More data.

Shard

The creepy malls in the US weren't always creepy, they just ran out of stores and footfall and were probably too big. Foodie malls should survive, and, possibly retail fashion.

Amazulu

If you believe that this technology is technically (and legally) deployable by 2021 (less than 3 years away), then party on with that assumption