Ah. I see we have different base assumptions about what an autonomous vehicle is going to be.

For me, the self-driving, smart-as-a-chauffeur, version of the AV is really a pipe dream. The real map of the world is just too complex and changing for anything other than a true AI to be able to operate within.

What i see is that all AVs will be interconnected, and constantly communicating with each other. So they will be able to "see" several blocks, even miles, ahead, and adapt their operation for the conditions. This means following distances between vehicles of inches, rather than car lengths. Road widths with tolerances measured in less than a foot.

Visualize independent train cars that are virtually linked together, rather than physically.

This seems far more likely of a future for AVs. This already exists on production lines today. Scaling it up, and providing safe operating zones for these transport pods, are really the only limitations.

Segregating AV traffic from human-driven vehicles is key, though. So reconsidering road widths, composition, merging, etc, you wind up with something much more like bicycle paths, than the streets and highways we use today.

That's my pipe dream. (And the AVs can operate someone autonomously - but slowly - in the suburbs, until they pool together and move as a unit to the AV-only road.)