While I agree (I have a bunch of stuff in my car), I think it's important to consider cities like New York: where there's substantial cost or effort required to

While I agree (I have a bunch of stuff in my car), I think it's important to consider cities like New York: where there's substantial cost or effort required to own a car, people are content to use alternatives (cabs, Uber, subway, Citibike, etc). If the alternative is readily available (ie. on-demand automated vehicles), I think the maintenance expense reductions and capital redeployment possible by automating transport will motivate law-makers to increasingly penalize private car use. If you have to pay an extra $5000/year for a private vehicle permit, a lot of people will switch.