[re-actor]

I didn't realise autonomous vehicles make the roads wider.

[pmontra]

Maybe TomMarius means that autonomous vehicles could negotiate intersections without stopping. No traffic lights required, only rules of precedence. It's going to be a slow procession but maybe the average speed would increase.

I'm not sure how that would mix with pedestrian crossings. In some dense areas there would be a non stop flow of people walking across the street and cars wouldn't be able to move.

[seanmcdirmid]

The cars can work together to reduce riding distances, move faster in tandem when going in a green light, and so on. They virtually make the road much wider by eliminating human inefficiency in driving.

[TomMarius]

Actually they do. There are streets full of parking empty cars, moving cars are at best a half.

Plus reduction of number of driving cars to roughly one third.