New York City grew over 500% since the advent of the mass-produced automobile. It has grown ~30% since the advent of the internet. The car may have distributed

New York City grew over 500% since the advent of the mass-produced automobile. It has grown ~30% since the advent of the internet. The car may have distributed our density a little more evenly, but it has not diminished the importance of cities. We will always continue to live, work, trade, eat, and buy in cities. It is one of the trademarks of our social evolution. We also continue to work during the day and sleep during the night, despite the advent of electricity. We go to work in the morning, and we return in the evening. Combine those two unavoidable traits of human existence and we get what is called Rush Hour. And it is not going away. At best, driverless cars represent a minor improvement in the pain of rush hour, but it doesn't abolish it...nor does it rid us of the need for public transit. There are simply too many geometric facts in the way. 1.3 million people commute to Manhattan every weekday. At 1.2 cars per person (typical for a morning commute) that is still more than a million cars fighting for some 2000 miles of road space. Even without any need for parking (assuming they would all be taxis, which is unlikely), that is still 1 car every ~10 feet of road length...including intersections. In other words, geometrically impossible, unless you want to argue that no bottlenecks would exist anywhere (such as intersections or bridges). Driverless cars will be nothing more than a minor improvement in congestion and parking costs. Where the real improvement comes from is driverless trucks and buses. A driverless truck reduces per-mile costs of road freight by about 40%, while allowing for 24hr days (13 more than the max possible with one driver, and 15 more than the average), making all road freight more than twice as fast. That is transformative for commerce. And for city buses, 85% of the cost is going to drivers. We could literally be offering buses at 4x the frequency at the same cost. That is transformative for cities.