A new study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has unveiled about the advantages of automated electric taxis. The researchers said these cars will majorly lead to two important areas of savings.

The study researchers have affirmed that the cars will bring emissions cut, which will come from shifting oil power to electric. Not only this, the autonomous taxi services have many other advantages making them more efficient than private electric vehicles.

Two main areas of savings by having the driverless cars are-

1. Smaller cars will majorly fulfill the need of taxi rides, which will mean having one or two people without luggage. And, the bigger cars can be for more number of people having baggage.

2. Electric cars are better than petrol cars. As per the study’s co-author Dr Jeff Greenblatt, the advantage increases even more when it comes to autonomous vehicles.

Taxis have more usage than private cars. Therefore, the miles traveled can bring a change in economic equation, feels Jeff.

“We found that, based on simple economic model, an electric taxi would be more cost effective today, but for current driven vehicles the range is short for electric”, said the researchers.

The researchers said that if a shift is made to electric, autonomous taxis in 2030, then it would cut vehicle emissions by 90% in comparison to current gas-powered car. If 15% of the cars sold in 2030 are electric then it would save 7 million barrels of oil per year and emissions will be reduced between 2.1 and 2.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.