QuoteDriverless freight trucks begin barreling through Texas
"Riding in the back seat for our inaugural trip was an honor of a lifetime --- from the article. <== A kiss-ass dumfuck thing to say for sure.
The individual who said that is likely beyond hope. May he feel what unemployment is like soon. I mean that, ignorance results in pain. Capitalists try to reduce labor costs (variable capital) by automating. Self driving cars are just another form of automation that results in the rate of profit falling.
B) But it requires increased investment in constant capital (machines, technology)
C) Since the rate of profit depends on variable capital increasing constant capital while decreasing variable capital causes the rate of profit to fall.
Ignorance causes the pain and suffering of innocents and much ignorance results in much suffering. Here is the key thing which is beyond the processing power of an average individual.
A company automates, and the company is able to make more money (in the short term) because automation lowers prices in a market where prices are determined by variable capital. Competition can't lower prices yet. But they will. Prices will fall when competition is also able to automate. Competition sets a lower price to recover their lost business.
The first company who automates then has to lower prices to keep up sales, and their profit is then right back where it started from before automation minus the cost of the hardware, software, and labor it takes to implement the automation.
Technology creates temporary advantages that are eroded by competition over time. Tech gives temporary advantages with the cost of permanent change.