One delightfully odd side effect of self-driving cars:
You may not need to park it, just tell it to circle the block until you need it (assuming sufficient energy). Imagine _herds_ of these things crawling around, say, NYC as energy costs will be far cheaper than actually parking them - just let it meander the lowest-energy aimless path until “Hey Siri, bring my car here” multiplied by thousands of vehicles.
“You may not need to park it.”
Hope no one needs an ambulance or police.
Intriguing thought. But it would be far easier to have a fleet of driverless taxis (driverless Uber’s) in the cities.
Your scenario won’t happen because cities will pass “congestion pricing” making it horrendously expensive to bring your private auto into the city. These are in effect today in London, Stockholm, Singapore, Milan, and Gothenburg. In London, the congestion charge is £11.50 plus a “toxicity charge” of an extra £10 charge if you drive an older or more polluting car or van.