NB: I didn't win the prize for this idea. 

0.Background and Origin

Asa recent transplant to Austin, I remain amazed at the proliferation of AVs. Itis difficult, except on airport runs, to find rideshares driven by humans and,at any given intersection, up to half the vehicles in view are AVs, many ofwhich are empty. That prompted me to think about ways to keep both drivers andAVs more fully employed.

1.      Title and The Idea In One Sentence

HelpingHand

Thanksto the rise of AVs and inexpensive service apps, Helping Hand can keep driversemployed meeting numerous human needs, in addition to rides, with a singleintegrated service app.

2. Executive Summary – The Essence of the Idea

Peoplewant to move from A to B, a service that AVs can now often provide, freeing updrivers to earn by meeting other human needs requiring physical presencethat AI-enabled robots (AI bots) cannot yet do. 

HelpingHand keeps drivers in vehicles to provide services like driving (when the AVscannot due to connectivity issues, inclement weather, or emergency situationswhen rules need to be broken), security (of the AV and for passengers),delivery (door-to-door), niche personal services (childcare, cooking, cleaning,basic friendship, maintenance, or translation services, tutoring), andcommunity services (community watch, first responder assistance, legal aid,witness).

3.                 WhyThis Is a Good Idea for Workers

HelpingHand could materially help drivers by giving them multiple, flexibleopportunities to earn. Nobody is born a rideshare driver. Like everyone else, ridesharedrivers possess multiple interests and talents that go undeveloped when their timeis spent driving, which requires their 100 percent attention. Finding reliablecustomers to provide other services is also time-consuming.

HelpingHand reduces both costs by freeing drivers from actual driving most of thetime, by matching them with people in need of their other skills and by actingas an intermediary so that both parties remain safe and “get paid or get aid.”

Asthe population ages and de-skilling continues, and as people increasingly livealone or with strangers, the need for a helping hand (hence Helping Hand) hasgrown. That help may be needed immediately and be something any adult human cando but something that AI bots cannot currently do, like plunging a cloggedsink, babysitting for an hour, or delivering food quickly. Or it might entail ahigher skill level, like tutoring sixth grade math, but be needed onlyintermittently, like when the regular tutor cancels.

HelpingHand would vet their drivers on their driving skills but also whatever otherskilled services the driver wishes to offer. Maybe one can play bridge oreuchre to make a foursome while another can offer violin lessons or round out afocus group. Maybe some can do all that plus paint the exterior of a house ordetail an automobile, AV or otherwise.

Localgovernments might also tap drivers whenever they need someone to directtraffic, or to help first responders pass out blankets and water after anapartment fire, or to witness the police reading an accused his Miranda rightswhere bodycams remain unreliable. 

Forsome relatively more complex tasks that Helping Hand has not certified thedriver in, the driver can be sent instructional videos to review while en routeto the call. 

HelpingHand will prove most helpful to drivers who are flexible workers and quicklearners or with existing skills that are most in-demand and least able to bedone by AI bots. 

4.                 HowImplementation Would Work

HelpingHand would need a corporate charter, applicable licenses, and startup funds. Itwould need to contract with existing AV ride services, delivery apps and workservice apps, and with local public service providers like police and firedepartments. Those contracts should be voluntary and entered only when themarginal benefit of the services provided exceeds the marginal cost. A firedepartment, for example, might willingly pay $20/hr. for on-call, unskilledhelp at fire scenes in lieu of tying up one or more higher paid, higher skilledworkers. A police department might pay $10/hr. for community watch services inhigh crime neighborhoods and so forth. Insurers might pay a flat fee for a driverto arrive and take pictures of a fender bender or other claim event. Dittonewspapers that want to ensure that pictures being sent in by citizenjournalists are legitimate and not AI-generated. 

Mostimportantly, Helping Hand would need an app that would coordinate service callsbetween all those entities, matching the appropriate drivers to specific needs,and prioritizing calls per contract specifications. Those are merelyengineering problems that AI can presumably overcome.

a.                  Financing– if Helping Hand is a nonprofit, it needs to fundraise through grants. If itis a commercial venture, perhaps an employee-owned for-profit corporation, itneeds VC backing. Parties will contract only if marginal benefits exceed costs,so it is at least budget neutral.

b.                 Complementarypolicies – minimum wage, occupational licensing, and scope of practice lawswill need to be relaxed or jettisoned so that drivers are not subject toonerous fees or education requirements. Drivers may be in the car but providingno services or only low-paid incidental services (community watch, physicalprotection of the AV) during parts of their shifts. Likewise, they may be askedto perform services currently legally provided only by licensed professionals.(In some jurisdictions, even cutting gum out of a child’s hair for pay wouldconstitute illegal practice of hairdressing.)

5.Concerns, Obstacles, and Risks

Ifrun as a nonprofit enterprise, Helping Hand might prove too little, too late interms of protecting drivers from AV proliferation. If it is run as a commercialenterprise and is not employee-owned, it might simply prove an intermediary inthe exploitation of drivers.

Ifa nonprofit, inaction may prove its biggest foe. If it is successful, either asa nonprofit or a for-profit, competitors may arise and profit by reducingdriver remuneration.

6.Additional Details

a.                  Politicaland Coalition Dynamics

Mostopposition would come from people seeking more radical policies, like a UBI, ormore reactionary ones designed to slow the adoption of AVs.

b.      Legal Considerations

Inaddition to minimum wage and licensing laws, insurance will be a majorconsideration. When they drive at all, drivers will be driving vehicles ownedby AV companies, not their own vehicles. Helping Hand would presumably insurecustomers against any damages that drivers may cause rendering other servicesand also insure drivers against any damages that customers may inflict on them.

Precedentsand analogues abound. The key novelty is putting service providers intovehicles that would be in motion anyway and giving customers a one-stop servicesolution from which to order a ride, a pizza, or someone to hold a ladder whilethe homeowner cleans the gutters on his house.

7. KeyOpen Questions

Whatpercentage of current drivers will relish the opportunity to diversify incomestreams while doing basic, though highly variegated, work?

Whatpercentage of government bureaucracies will be able to see the value insummoning extra unskilled aid on demand?

Willwealthy individuals or NGOs use Helping Hand to bolster protests, marches, andso forth? And, if so, how will governments and the public react?

AV delivery services are currentlybeing tested in Austin but the little boxes, essentially just heater-coolers onwheels, are clearly inadequate outside of downtown areas in good weather.Thieves are already cracking them for their delicious contents.