Lots of people don’t live in urban cores. And it’s outside those cores where people can drive significant distances where self-driving has the most value. I actually expect we will eventually see self-driving on limited access highways and other “easy” situations. Self-driving in cities and as taxis may be indefinitely postponed.
As a practical matter, meaningful change to the population density distribution will take decades, if not centuries. And it will not happen at all until we can find a way to make urban living less brutally expensive.
And yeah, urban core will need to be redefined. Not everyone wants to live in a skyscraper. We need to strike a balance.
Where people live is always a compromise. I want my mansion on 100 acres within a few meters of New York's subway (any station), and no more than 20 minutes from my job (in the midwest - I'd have to average 3x the speed of sound to make that trip time). The above of course is impossible, even if you are the richest person in the world.
Yep. Where I am now is definitely a compromise between convenience and space. A self-driving car will make it possible to increase both my convenience and space.
