When the highway I can see out my balcony is gridlocked everything is quiet. When there’s high speed it’s noisy.
When the roads are gridlocked I can bicycle by quite easily. When they’re going by at 45 mph that’s a lot more risky.
When the cars in the line are autonomous they won’t turn into me randomly because they lost their temper. Honestly, you’re making this outcome seem like paradise. Gridlock is a dream.
I don’t see how this would increase demand significantly. Fleets may grow, but I doubt more people will be going on trips because now they don’t need to drive. I can get uber to pay my trip to the office, that doesn’t mean I want to go to the office.
damnitbuilds•2d ago
Nope, not buying it.
bsder•2h ago
Look at commute length. When families had a maximum of one car, you simply couldn't live very far from work. As soon as you got two cars per family, commute times and traffic exploded.
If you can simply sleep during the trip, how much further will people be willing to commute? I suspect quite a bit.
majormajor•1h ago
Today if you drive you have to actively sit in traffic.
Replace that with a commute in an isolated near-soundproof private office with a comfy chair, fancy sound system.
You're gonna see people who can afford it choose to take the luxury ride over standing packed in a bus or train.
You're gonna see people who lived 25 minutes from their office because they didn't want to lose more than an hour total a day driving start be willing to put up with a longer commute to get more space for the same money, since the commute is now idle alone time, to work or relax as desired.
You take away the biggest negative about something that is seen as a luxury good compared to the alternatives in most of the US. You're gonna get more usage.
daemonologist•1h ago
However: turn most of the street parking into bus and/or bike lanes, the parking garages into apartments, seems like an absolute win. (Except for Chicago, which is presumably going to have more problems with its privatized street parking.)