Driverless Cars and the City: Sharing Cars, Not Rides

Wendell Cox
Demographia

A world of driverless cars seems likely to provide massively improved highway safety, better mobility—especially for those with mobility disadvantages (such as the rising elderly population)— faster travel times, better use of existing roadway infrastructure, and a reduction in traffic congestion. All this should lead to better lives and better economies.

Some people imagine a driverless car world in which a mobility service company delivers exactly the car you want (Neil, 2015) on a moment’s notice. The ultimate vision may be a city with few residential garages and in which virtually every automobile trip might be in a different vehicle, often shared with strangers. Good reasons raise doubt, however, that this ambitious scenario will ever be achieved.