Autonomous Vehicles Should Start Small, Go Slow

Many young urbanites don't want to own a car, and unlike earlier generations, they don't have to rely on mass transit. Instead they treat mobility as a service: When they need to travel significant distances, say, more than 5 miles (8 kilometers), they use their phones to summon an Uber (or a car from a similar ride-sharing company). If they have less than a mile or so to go, they either walk or use various "micromobility" services, such as the increasingly ubiquitous Lime and Bird scooters or, in some cities, bike sharing. The problem is that today's mobility-as-a-service ecosystem often doesn't do a good job covering intermediate distances, say a few miles. Hiring an Uber or Lyft for such short trips proves frustratingly expensive, and riding a scooter or bike more than a mile or so can be taxing to many people.