A recent Atlantic Cities article noted that driverless cars have the potential to fix a lot of transportation woes and save the government a lot of money. Inefficiencies in the transportation system (e.g., poor road and bridge conditions, congestion) are worth over $100 billion, according to economist Clifford Winston. Winston suggests that governments have a number of options to improve these conditions, such as road pricing, better pavement design, and improved traffic control systems. But he argues that governments have a bias toward maintaining the status quo which private companies do not, and these companies’ work on driverless car technology could have a significant economic benefit and save the government a lot of money in the future.
Driverless cars can travel closer together, thereby reducing congestion. GPS systems can direct heavy vehicles to suitable routes and help reduce wear on roads. Car crashes could be virtually eliminated because of vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The Eno Center for Transportation estimates the annual economic benefit of driverless cars could be $211 billion a year—and that’s if only half of the current fleet goes driverless. This calculation includes lives saved, cost savings from reduced crashes, and congestion benefits, among other things.
Because of the strides already being made, Winston suggests that government allow driverless technology to develop but address anticipated liability issues. But the private sector cannot make driverless cars a future success alone. The author of the Atlantic Cities article, Eric Jaffe, notes that driverless cars will make issues of road conditions and transportation funding more apparent. To truly reap the benefits of driverless cars, he argues government funding and investment in roads is also necessary.
