[SwellJoe]

Not only that, AI will eliminate huge amounts of wasted road even during peak times and with traffic that can't be scheduled for off hours (like people going to work/school). A networked self-driving car can know where the traffic is and route around it. It can provide tools to everyone (from city planners to individuals) to maximize the availability of resources and minimize the time wasted on waiting. Red lights can cycle at the most efficient rate at all hours of the day, reversible lanes (like many large cities have on their primary highways) can be closed and opened on a dynamic schedule rather than on the preset schedule. When all cars are AI-driven and aware of all other cars, they can drive at exactly the right speed, allowing faster merges and exits, etc. Humans are wildly variable in their response time and unpredictable in their behavior in so many situations on the road, that replacing them seems likely to increase the capacity of roads by a dramatic amount. Maybe doubling? Maybe tripling? I don't know, but it will be a huge difference.

[j_s]

Yes, all (but one?) lane going in the "to/from work" direction based on traffic needs will make a huge difference!

[SwellJoe]

Theoretically, one doesn't even need directional lanes, anymore. You just have a road, and cars go where they most efficiently fit; lanes won't have any meaning anymore, just like most road signs won't have any purpose. If every car is communicating with every other car, and every car knows where it needs to go and how to get there in the shortest time, it can look like utter chaos to the human eye, and still be entirely safe (assuming we go to great lengths to insure reliable software and hardware).

Of course, I expect it to take decades for us to reach that point, which is really unfortunate. That's a lot of senseless auto collision deaths due to human error while we wait for the future to arrive. If governments were capable of looking forward, at all, they would recognize the massive savings an all AI road represents, both monetary and health, and would be pushing hard for it (both enabling private industry to implement it and guiding public funded research).