Now imagine a city without private cars. A city where transportation is emissions-free, largely self-driving and connected to the internet. A city where cars, as well as taxis, buses, trains and bicycles, are shared. Instead of parked cars and concrete, city streets might be filled with mini parks, markets and more. A look at how innovation and technology are transforming the way we live, work and play.

Waymo is now operating a robotaxi pilot in non-downtown San Francisco using Jaguar electric ... [ ] vehicles. This is territory where a real robotaxi make sense. Most of the biggest names in self-driving cars are aiming to make money selling Robotaxi service -- most quickly described as a self-driving Uber UBER -style service where you can summon a car with an app on your phone and ride elsewhere for a reasonable fee, possibly combined with "sharing" in some form, such as the style of UberPool or forms of on-demand transit. This is the plan of Waymo, Cruise, Amazon AMZN /Zoox, Argo AI and many others. It was obviously the plan of Uber ATG before it sold to Aurora, and Lyft LYFT L5 before it sold to Toyota.

Just months after raising $28 million, Jerry announced today that it has raised $75 million in a Series C round that values the company at $450 million. Existing backer Goodwater Capital doubled down on its investment in Jerry, leading the "oversubscribed" round. Bow Capital, Kamerra, Highland Capital Partners and Park West Asset Management also participated in the financing, which brings Jerry's total raised to $132 million since its 2017 inception. Goodwater Capital also led the startup's Series B earlier this year. Jerry's new valuation is about "4x" that of the company at its Series B round, according to co-founder and CEO Art Agrawal.

The development of autonomous vehicles has been the strongest driver of auto tech investment in the past couple of years. According to the infographic about the future of cars from carsurance.net, more than $9 billion was funneled into the R&D of self-driving vehicles between 2014 and 2018 in 215 deals. The collective efforts of traditional automakers and tech giants, such as Google, Amazon, and Apple, are fast-tracking the maturity of autonomous driving technology. By 2030, about 70% of motor vehicles are projected to have some self-driving features. Furthermore, by the year 2035, it is expected that there will be 4.5 million self-driving cars roaming around the US streets.

The insurance, transportation, and retail industries will either not exist in 20 years or will have changed completely due to artificial intelligence (AI), innovation, and other factors, according to Dave Jordan, global head, consulting and services integration at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). "AI plays a considerable role in removing friction from our current experiences with both mobility and shopping,'' Jordan said. "Over the next several years, AI will combine with … building-block technologies to enable a mobility and a maker ecosystem that absorb these three industries." SEE: Special feature: Autonomous vehicles and the enterprise (free PDF) (TechRepublic) Jordan provided examples of the ways TCS' futurists see each of these industries becoming absorbed into broader, horizontal ecosystems. Insurance is either absorbed as a value-added piece of ecosystems, or the need simply goes away. "As autonomous vehicles become ubiquitous, there will be dramatically fewer traffic accidents, reducing or eliminating the need for auto insurance,'' Jordan said.

Before long, the rideshares we summon with our phones may come without drivers. Though that's not a ride many would accept just yet, a number of companies are nearing launch phase on driverless robotaxi vehicles. Alphabet subsidiary Waymo launched the first limited commercial robotaxi service last December in Phoenix, and existing ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have partnerships and pilot projects in development in various test cities (mostly those with great weather and little traffic). GM's self-driving subsidiary, Cruise, has postponed its 2019 launch plans but continues testing in San Francisco using the electric Chevy Bolt. And dozens of other robotaxi projects are in various phases of development, including an ambitious plan by Elon Musk to encourage Tesla owners to allow their idle electric vehicles to "gig away" when idle and join other company-owned vehicles in a robotaxi fleet. But to achieve a reality in which self-driven vehicles begin to displace their human-driven counterparts in large numbers, standardization is going to have to become a much more prominent part of the picture.

Silicon Valley is pouring billions into robot cars. Soon – although the time scale keeps shifting – tech manufacturers say driverless cars will replace their traditional counterparts, car parks will become parks again and road fatalities will plummet. People have argued over ethical concerns surrounding the technology, the ensuing job losses and the public's antipathy to this robot revolution. But the biggest obstacle may well be money. We have been taking a deep look at the economics of driverless technology.

When BMW and Daimler announced a €1bn (£880m) partnership last week to develop a suite of "mobility services" together, it was a clear sign of how the auto industry had changed. For one thing, the German giants - who plan to work on driverless vehicles, ride-hailing and pay-per-use cars together - are normally fierce rivals who would never dream of teaming up. For another, their pact was just the latest in a growing line of partnerships between traditional carmakers who are preparing for an uncertain future, in which next-generation technology could upend the industry and Silicon Valley could hold more sway than Detroit or Wolfsburg. Just recently Ford and Volkswagen agreed to "investigate" ways of working on electric and autonomous vehicles together, while Honda invested $2.75bn (£2.1bn) in rival General Motors' driverless unit with a view to launching a fleet of unmanned taxis. There have been similar tie-ups between Tesla and Daimler, and Volvo and PSA, as well as a host of pacts between carmakers and tech firms.

Sitting in the BMW dealership waiting for a flat to be replaced, I realize I've driven over 100 miles and spent five hours behind the wheel this week. In Phoenix, I am living the life this city has designed for me. A sprawling grid fueled by swooping highways and generous arterial roads, the Phoenix metropolitan area is a gargantuan expression of the car culture that defines the urban experience for most Americans. To use this space, you need a vehicle. Anything else effects your passive or active exclusion from a host of activities and, more broadly, from the culture itself.

Sitting in the BMW dealership waiting for a flat to be replaced, I realize I've driven over 100 miles and spent five hours behind the wheel this week. In Phoenix, I am living the life this city has designed for me. A sprawling grid fueled by swooping highways and generous arterial roads, the Phoenix metropolitan area is a gargantuan expression of the car culture that defines the urban experience for most Americans. To use this space, you need a vehicle. Anything else effects your passive or active exclusion from a host of activities and, more broadly, from the culture itself.