Rural people are not suffering any penalties for driving their own vehicle, save for the fact that they need to pay money to do it. For anyone living off of a rural route down a gravel road, having a motor vehicle that they can just hop into and go to work, or do business, or visit, or shop at a moments notice, is a Godsend. Most country people LIKE to drive. It allows them to see what’s going on in the community, and it’s something that is more interesting to do than watching television. No autonomous gizmo can replace the benefits rural living individuals get from jumping into their F250 and cranking it up. At what point would an autonomous vehicle consider the weather conditions too poor to safely carry a passenger? For someone with an all wheel drive pick up truck who lives down in the holler, that point is never. People who don’t own motor vehicles or have never lived in a remote area may not understand this.

I don’t understand how the author thinks that there will be more vehicles on the road if there is a private competitive market for these things. There will be just as many vehicles as are needed. None of the companies that are involved will make a profit if they have excess vehicles driving in circles since doing that costs money and doesn’t make any. The best possible outcomes from this technology, as long as the government doesn’t run it, is that it will eliminate the need for as much parking or public transportation. If you really want to see waste, watch a huge city bus slowing hundreds of cars to pick up three people on their 6 mile route at ten o’clock in the evening. With autonomous cars providing livery service, that wouldn’t be necessary and the passengers wouldn’t have to walk blocks to their homes from the stop.