I would presume the ultimate goal from the perspective of the railroads is totally autonomous trains with no human crew. There may be reason not apparent, but t

I would presume the ultimate goal from the perspective of the railroads is totally autonomous trains with no human crew. There may be reason not apparent, but that seems like a much more practical goal than automating trucks and cars on roads. The track steers the train, the switches and signals are (almost) all interlocking, an autonomous train would never miss a speed change, a signal, or need to stop because the driver is out of hours.