[tracker1]

If people aren't sharing the vehicle there's the same number of vehicles on the same number of roads, just less need for parking spaces.

Of course, the potential for reduced accidents should help. Unfortunately, part of why AZ was probably chosen is that it's mostly sunny/clear weather during the year.

[rowanG077]

Reduced accidents. Increased time for people using self driving cars. Companies no longer needing to pay for staff that pilots cars. Just the time and cost savings alone for private people and companies is hard to be overstated.

[tracker1]

Are the people driving really that much more expensive than the computers, tooling and infrastructure for automated cars? How do the maintenance costs compare? There's a lot more to it than just the drivers.

[rowanG077]

Initial investment is incredible. Just look at how much money and time has already been spent on trying to implement self-driving capabilities and we aren't close yet.

But once the technology is developed and available the cost will probably be pretty low. A couple of sensors and processing. I feel like maintenance cost will likely be smaller since a self driving car in theory at least can detect any issue much quicker then a human.

This is all speculation of course but human drivers are very expensive. Quick googling says about 20k to 45k per year for a truck driver. Even if initial investment in self driving technology costs 50k per unit more it's still incredibly advantageous to do so.