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As with taxis today, logistics will, I think, place strong cost demands that the autonomous motorcars don't venture too far off from their service hubs. Calling a automonous car to drive you from London to Birmingham will, I suggest, demand a significant surcharge to offset the demand and utilization differences between having cars ending up in Birmigham where they can't take passengers in London.
I don't think it'll be sold that way around, but rather that 'you can grab a bargain if you take a car back to London'.
There will also be issues, I think, with commuters as they tend to be in single directions-- morning, for example, into London and evening the other way-- thinking here of places like Luton, Crawley, Reading etc.
Sure, excessively tidal flows already exist, of course. As I said, in London, public transport will persist, as it simply moves far more people. However, self-driving cars will play a greater part because they eliminate one of the biggest capacity constraints in car travel, when each driver accelerates slowly, with a gap after the previous driver. Self-driving cars can, at least in theory, move off as one big block, meaning you get far more through a junction in one go. That would certainly increase 'private' (probably car company-owned) motor traffic.
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Oliver Schick
As with taxis today, logistics will, I think, place strong cost demands that the autonomous motorcars don't venture too far off from their service hubs. Calling a automonous car to drive you from London to Birmingham will, I suggest, demand a significant surcharge to offset the demand and utilization differences between having cars ending up in Birmigham where they can't take passengers in London. There will also be issues, I think, with commuters as they tend to be in single directions-- morning, for example, into London and evening the other way-- thinking here of places like Luton, Crawley, Reading etc.