I am wondering about the effect of the advent of self-driving cars on urban sprawl. Will it increase or decrease sprawl?
Urban sprawl is said to be an unintended consequence of the development of the US interstate highway system.
Here's an economics analysis: self-driving cars reduce the effective cost of a commute, by allowing the passenger to focus on other things than driving during the commute (reading, watching TV, playing games, etc). Since a significant limit to sprawl is the cost, broadly construed, of long commutes, self-driving cars will increase sprawl.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
Duration set to six days to encourage Monday as first day.