The best part of this is automated semi trucks. I think that's the perfect sort of business for Tesla to be in.
I have a lot of trouble understanding the public transportation part. The ideas presented fall apart when you remove the baffling assumption that traffic congestion decreases with the introduction of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles will expand the possible set of drivers. That will dramatically increase the amount of vehicles on the road. If anything our future with autonomous vehicles will be unbearable gridlock.
No, look at the whole system. Instead of four people with four cars (or even two cars and a couple bikes), you can have one autonomous shared cab driving an optimized route.
This assumes that everyone is sharing cars. What if they don't? Then you simply have what we have now plus the addition of people who otherwise wouldn't be able to drive (people without licenses, 13 year olds, 80 year olds etc).
I have a lot of trouble understanding the public transportation part. The ideas presented fall apart when you remove the baffling assumption that traffic congestion decreases with the introduction of autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles will expand the possible set of drivers. That will dramatically increase the amount of vehicles on the road. If anything our future with autonomous vehicles will be unbearable gridlock.