[seanmcdirmid]

Ghost cities are really just ghost districts, and they simply aren’t economically viable which is why they are deserted, traffic won’t make something economically viable, and it’s quite the opposite, economic viability brings traffic. Self driving isn’t going to make Kangbashi or Tianjin’s new financial district popular.

China is demoing a lot of self driving cars in their suburbs however, so not core Beijing, but out in Daxing or Changping, for example. China could and will mandate self driving cars in dense city cores when they become viable to optimize traffic flow in cities that can’t really fit many more new roads. And Chinese companies are working hard to make mass produced Lidar economical, while America will probably just put high tariffs on that.