What saddens me about all this is that the trend away from cars also represents a trend away from freedom. If you have a car that you can drive, you can travel

What saddens me about all this is that the trend away from cars also represents a trend away from freedom. If you have a car that you can drive, you can travel pretty much as you please, subject to the availability of time and economic resources (e.g. fuel, vehicle maintenance). Without one, you are either restricted to the distance you can travel on foot (or via human-powered devices like bicycles, which extend that range some but not to a great extent), or you become dependent on others to provide you the service of transportation...and, in many cases, those services are either heavily regulated by government (e.g. airlines, trains, traditional taxi services) or outright provided by government (e.g. municipal buses and light rail). This gives the government the ability to arbitrarily deny the freedom to travel at its whim (e.g. the "no-fly" list). Of the three trends cited, electric cars least affect the freedom to travel, though their limited range compared to vehicles with an IC engine might infringe somewhat. Self-driving cars rely heavily on communication with external services for their navigation and operation, and this provides a chokepoint where government can exert pressure. And we've certainly seen how governments are responding to the rise of ride-sharing services, by attempting to regulate them, which is still an ongoing controversy. Is there anyone out there that is seriously addressing the threat to freedom that the demise of the traditional car represents?