[rmonroe]

> they need to drive for hours and hours on end, instead of just 5-45minutes If you assume that whatever vehicle considered is being driven near full-duty-cycle, the total amount of time is roughly conserved (perhaps autonomous vehicles will get 2x-3x utilization per day, for better or worse)

You could create a system, potentially using truck stops or in some way your own infrastructure, which is a docking point for autonomous vehicles. At these locations, human drivers pick up and drop off the otherwise autonomous vehicles, allowing humans to take the burden of the difficult portion of driving, while computers handle the boring part of driving. Of course, you would have to place similar stops every (80% of a tank of gas, measured in distance), as well for refueling. Naturally, this idea has a dozen holes at the moment and would need to be improved to be viable.