There's a huge divide (difference) between the urban populace (New York, Chicago, LA, etc) and the rest of the U.S.
The urban consumer lives and works in a much smaller area or they have access to mass transit. Driving for them is an alternative. People who live in less urban areas -- such as cities with a population in the thousands, not millions -- do not always have access to mass transit and usually live farther from their work/shopping/leisure activities.
The author's argument works well for urban consumers, not so much for the rest of the U.S.
Won't the rural/suburban populace benefit the most from autonomous car services? They'll all-of-a-suddenly have access to door-to-door transportation when they previously had no choice but to own a car (or bother friends/family). Maybe rural areas will be serviced by a small fleet of self-driving pickup trucks. Farmer Joe can just order 20 bales of hay delivered from Dale's Feed & Supply and won't have to waste the hours off the farm to go get it.
There's a huge divide (difference) between the urban populace (New York, Chicago, LA, etc) and the rest of the U.S.
The urban consumer lives and works in a much smaller area or they have access to mass transit. Driving for them is an alternative. People who live in less urban areas -- such as cities with a population in the thousands, not millions -- do not always have access to mass transit and usually live farther from their work/shopping/leisure activities.
The author's argument works well for urban consumers, not so much for the rest of the U.S.
Won't the rural/suburban populace benefit the most from autonomous car services? They'll all-of-a-suddenly have access to door-to-door transportation when they previously had no choice but to own a car (or bother friends/family). Maybe rural areas will be serviced by a small fleet of self-driving pickup trucks. Farmer Joe can just order 20 bales of hay delivered from Dale's Feed & Supply and won't have to waste the hours off the farm to go get it.