It’s all part of President Obama’s plan to make American transportation as futuristic as possible. Actually it's all part of a leftist compulsion to restrict liberty.
I have been posting for years on these threads that the left hates the automobile not just because they believe it pollutes but because it represents untrammeled liberty emblematic of the individual sending his own course without soliciting or requiring consent of those who govern him. Like the cowboy in the classic motion picture genre, an American on the open road is quintessentially American, he is free. The idea of Americans making their own independent way is hateful to collectivists.
Collectivists don't want you riding wherever and whenever you please, they want you herded into buses and trains where you are controlled. Indeed they have even said they want to force you to be housed in geographical areas in which you can be collected and transported under controlled circumstances.
The ultimate aim of the cyber car is not safety but to require the sojourner to solicit clearance through his computer to travel along a government approved route at a government approved time in control of a government agency akin to an air traffic controller. When you want to visit grandma on Thanksgiving you will need approval of your "flight plan," a clearance and a departure time from big brother.
I am going to disagree here.
For a good long time standard cars will coexist with self-drivers.
I can easily forsee having at least one of each in my garage. The ordinary one for exactly the reasons you mention. The autonomous one for innocuous trips.
But, the older I get, the more I see an autonomous car as freedom. Someday I will be too old to drive, and so will you. Do you want to live in a nursing home and take their short bus to the mall every Thursday, or do you want to go where you want when you want?
And, how much do you want your insurance to cost? I expect autonomous cars will have very low rates.
Lastly, if you ever get pulled over, do you want an electronic record that can prove you were not speeding, weaving in your lane, etc. or do you want you word against the cop's word?
Nobody REALLY needs to own an “automatic transmission” car with a scary black paint job.
What if cars were controlled just like guns now are?
Well, let’s consider some of the implications.
* In Washington DC, you couldn’t own a car at all, unless it was “grandfathered” in or you were an elected politician. New York would be almost as bad.
* You could possess a car on your own property, but in most states, you would need a special permit in order to operate it on any public road, and if you live within city limits, you’d better have a damned good reason to operate it even on your own property. Some states would have a policy of always issuing the permit unless they had legitimate reason not to, but others would deny the permit for arbitrary reasons and not be required to tell you the reason, and many jurisdictions in such states would have a policy of just saying “No.” (Unless, of course, you’d contributed a large sum of money to the Sheriff’s re-election campaign. Could be $5,000, could be $10,000, could be $20,000 ... depends. How much money do you have?)
* You’d also be able to operate it at licensed race tracks, of course. However, in many states, you couldn’t drive it there, you’d have to transport it in a locked box trailer, and it had better be completely empty fueled , both directions. In some states, if it was found during a routine stop that you had fuel in the same trailer, the car would be considered fueled and you’d be arrested. How you haul the trailer is your own problem ... oxen? 20 mule team?
* You couldn’t own an SUV. No-one needs a car that big and powerful.
* No sports cars. No-one needs a car that fast.
* You couldn’t own a minivan. No-one needs a vehicle with that much capacity (except the city, of course, which would continue to operate its bus fleets, government exempting itself as it always does from the laws its citizens have to follow).
* You couldn’t own a vehicle with an automatic transmission. Everyone knows automatic transmissions are designed solely to make as many gear changes as possible with a single shove of the gas pedal.
* You couldn’t own that subcompact 58mpg hybrid any more. Everyone “knows” cars that small aren’t safe. There might be some domestic models (yeah, right!), but all imports would be banned.
* Motorcycles, even more so; they’d all be banned. Just way too easy to have one and not be seen. (Most motorcyclists would agree with this. We think it’s WAY too easy to own and operate a motorcycle and “not be seen”. Many motorcyclists get killed every year by people who “didn’t see” them.) And even your bicycle would get funny looks, especially if it’s something unusual like a recumbent.
* The Mayor and your Senator would somehow still have no difficulty continuing to operate their chauffeur-driven limos. But what else is new?
* It would be illegal in some states to have a car possessing more than two of, say, a CD player, a sunroof, a trailer hitch, a rear spoiler, alloy wheels, racing stripes, a convertible top, tinted windows, tuner decals, or an aftermarket exhaust system (even if it performed no differently than stock). In some states, certain accessories such as fog lights or convertible tops would be simply illegal, period. Your state might also have a specific list by name of cars you weren’t allowed to own for more or less arbitrary, largely cosmetic reasons, and might also vaguely prohibit ownership of any vehicle “substantially similar” to one on the list. Naturally, it would be your responsibility to find out from the state DMV whether a specific car was actually legal for you to own or not, and if they changed their minds later, they might arrest you anyway despite having already told you your car was legal. (They might repeat this cycle several times.)
* It would be a felony to leave your car unsecured where a minor could get access to it.
* In some states, if someone stole your car and committed a crime with it, you could go to jail. Even if you didn’t go to jail, you’d never get the car back. State law would most likely require that it be crushed.