[timwaagh]

Did you do the math on whether that's actually a smaller investment? Large autonomous vehicle fleets sound like a big investment even if one eventually gets developed. Plus it will cause road congestion. Which would cause the need for more infrastructure investment down the line. Not that these pipes aren't expensive but at least it's proven technology that's available on the market. According to the article, Nairobi, Kenya is going to use it. That's not a rich place. I think you therefore might be overestimating the cost.

[yholio]

The average garbage production per capita in the US is 5 pounds per day. Moving that quantity a few miles to a collection center is completely trivial to other transportation tasks that an average citizen needs every day (personal travel for work, shopping, leisure and social tasks, freight transport and home delivery, the average effect of constructing, repairing and tearing down buildings etc. etc.). So it is unlikely to have any effect on congestion.