To your point (I guess the downvotes are representing people's thoughts on Tesla), Self-driving could still have a major impact like this without being the "fu

To your point (I guess the downvotes are representing people's thoughts on Tesla), Self-driving could still have a major impact like this without being the "fully-autonomous" version. Virtual routes can be developed with negligible infrastructure(sensors) compared to a trains requirements. However, Amtrak has historically been a socialism that blue-collar towns are OK with participating in, so my guess is that this has more to do with giving government money to those people than solving any real transportation issue.