re: Self driving cars of the future

quote:

---

I just don't see how they could be used on construction sites and back roads.

---

They won't be, at least not for a very long time. They'll be used for commutes in urban areas and for commercial shipping. Which is an outrageous amount of mileage. You can't yell at an AI to back up a certain amount of feet on a construction site. So from that perspective, the transformation will be slow and gradual. The real key will be the infrastructure expansion that will have to take place to make self driving vehicles even more efficient. How quickly do states and municipalities throw down that money, and at what point does is investment in infrastructure expansion for self driving cars undercut by investment in high speed rail? The economics factors at work here are pretty easy to identify, but what it will look like when the dust settles will be interesting to see.