Not everything has to be a cure for cancer. Things can just be cool tech. But autonomous vehicles do solve some real issues as well. Many of the women in my li

Not everything has to be a cure for cancer. Things can just be cool tech. But autonomous vehicles do solve some real issues as well. Many of the women in my life have full on PTSD about certain aspects of driving. There are days they struggle to get themselves to work. Autonomous vehicles are a drop-in solution for that, with better safety and privacy than Uber/Lyft. Some people would say that better public transit would also solve this, but those people have never done infrastructure advocacy in the US. A moonshot like autonomous vehicles has a genuinely better likelihood of existing for most people in the US than effective public transit. They're also a potentially safer and more enjoyable solution to the non-joy driving many people do daily. There's no need for those miles to be done by humans who are distracted by other concerns. Companies also really want it to exist. Pretty much everyone with a large delivery program is in talks with one or more AV companies to automate their shipping. It's going to become a significant part of the industry as soon as the costs are competitive.