Related effects
By reducing the (labor and other) cost of mobility as a service,
automated cars could reduce the number of cars that are individually
owned, replaced by taxi/pooling and other car sharing services. This
would also dramatically reduce the size of the automotive production
industry, with corresponding environmental and economic effects.
Assuming the increased efficiency is not fully offset by increases in
demand, more efficient traffic flow could free roadway space for other
uses such as better support for pedestrians and cyclists.
The vehicles’ increased awareness could aid the police by reporting on
illegal passenger behavior, while possibly enabling other crimes, such
as deliberately crashing into another vehicle or a pedestrian. However,
this may also lead to much expanded mass surveillance if there is wide
access granted to third parties to the large data sets generated. The
future of passenger rail transport in the era of automated cars is not
clear.