This is my thought, too. I think self-driving cars are extremely cool, but I think that a lot .
Once self-driving cars are "the new normal", they'll be a lot more comfortable than regular cars. Which means that a lot of people won't think twice about a 75-minute car commute, because with internet access and the ability to read and an extremely comfortable chair, it won't be unpleasant to do so. And we will (because our reaction time is slow compared to a computer's) be able to raise the speed limits once self-driving cars are the norm: 150 mph highways where human-driven cars are banned, just as you can't take a bicycle on 65-mph highway. None of this is inherently bad, but I hope we won't be burning hydrocarbons to do it.
Once self-driving cars are "the new normal", they'll be a lot more comfortable than regular cars. Which means that a lot of people won't think twice about a 75-minute car commute, because with internet access and the ability to read and an extremely comfortable chair, it won't be unpleasant to do so. And we will (because our reaction time is slow compared to a computer's) be able to raise the speed limits once self-driving cars are the norm: 150 mph highways where human-driven cars are banned, just as you can't take a bicycle on 65-mph highway. None of this is inherently bad, but I hope we won't be burning hydrocarbons to do it.