Waiting for cars in front of you is for safety and would be the case even with fully automated nationally adopted self driving electric cars. When you're stopp

Waiting for cars in front of you is for safety and would be the case even with fully automated nationally adopted self driving electric cars. When you're stopped you don't need a buffer so much for when things go wrong, but at higher speeds you need a bigger buffer, and having space helps avoid mass catastrophes when some freak storm knocks a tree branch onto the road or a car malfunctions or mechanical failure/wear and tear.