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Originally Posted by glennQNYC
States are already concerned about autonomous vehicles causing a massive increase in traffic, congestion, pollution, and wear on the roads. I believe one state even passed legislation preventing autonomous vehicles from traveling without a passenger.
The thinking is that people could have their vehicle drive back home by itself (for whatever reason) after dropping off its passengers; then drive itself back while empty. Autonomous vehicle owners might forgo finding a parking spot and choose have their vehicle continuously circle the area while they briefly run into a destination. Further, people would be less inclined to use mass transit if they didn't need to manage their car in rush-hour traffic or park it at the destination.
It seems to me that autonomous vehicles driving without passengers has the potential to cause more problems than they attempt to solve. It will be interesting to see how this particular aspect of autonomous vehicles shakes out over the next decade.
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Just found article speaking to the point I'm making in my post. Apparently the technical term for this challenge is "empty repositioning."
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Here we see a technology that massively disrupts not only traditional businesses, but also public policy on mass transit. Drivers don?t have to drive during their commute, and can send their vehicles home when they are not using them, avoiding the cost of parking. Transportation planners are wholly unprepared for this future, and given the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been spent on public transit systems that are inflexible and capital intensive hub-and-spoke systems, I forecast a lot of pain ahead.
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http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2016/09/22/a...ing-challenge/