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That very much depends on what we thing of as a taxi. Right now, they're all the same size - enough for 6 people and some luggage.
Most people are one / maybe two trying to get to a meeting or back home from a night out.
Truly autonomous vehicles could be any size / shape and the majority could be much smaller pods which would reduce congestion and would also be easier to store (park) when not called. Algorithms to reduce the number needed based on demand should also help.
Also, I would imagine a large portion of congestion in large cities is user errors - not moving off quickly from lights, accordion effect of braking in traffic, morons stopping in the wrong place, illegal u-turns etc etc etc. Remove the human element and that all goes away.
This is all best case scenario but removing humans from the mix almost always makes things better.
Soul-
You've really drunk the kool-aid, haven't you?
Autonomous vehicles will be a disaster for cities, and city authorities should prioritise active travel and public transport primarily, as these are by far the most efficient ways to move people around.
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Remove the human element and that all goes away.
The trouble is that human element includes cyclists and pedestrians. We'll probably see another push for jaywalking laws at some point and cyclists having to use cycle lanes, wear sensors or some other stupid thing.
andyp
aggi
self-driving electric cars will reduce the cost circulating a fleet of taxis around cities way down. it's going to be a disaster for congestion imo.