Long Distance Travel

One of the implications of self-driving vehicles that I had not thought about is the impact on airlines.

Let’s say I’m traveling from here to, say, New Orleans. Google says it is nine hours by car.

Expedia says it is four and a half hours by plane from Orlando. Plus I need an hour and a half to drive to Orlando, then another hour and a half to navigate TSA, etc. Then at the other end probably an hour to get downtown. Looks like eight and a half hours, except that the car leaves whenever I want, with no hassle, as much baggage as I want, far more comfort, and my food, drink, communications and entertainment of choice. Cost looks about the same for a single passenger, but half for two and so forth. I would say, advantage car. And this is a non-stop airline route.

For even longer trips, a fully autonomous car can keep driving while its passengers sleep – there is no driver, of course. So at least notionally I could make the trip overnight without giving up a night’s sleep, assuming the car had the necessary comforts for sleeping. Which they will.

Looks to me that the autonomous car will disrupt airline transport.