Governments Better Prepare Now

Guest: Kevin Desouza, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research at Arizona State University.  Imagine for a moment that you’re the mayor of a city. Could be any city, really. And you’re thinking about the not-too-distant future, when driverless cars will be commonplace on your city streets. What we know about these cars so far suggests we’ll see fewer accidents due to things like drunkenness or distraction. Roads will be less congested because cars will drive more efficiently than we humans. Even street lights could be programmed to work optimally with the automated vehicles. Sounds great, yeah?  But if you’re a mayor, this change probably ought to bring with it a sense of foreboding. All the revenues you’ve been collecting for your city budget from parking and speeding tickets? Wave goodbye to them.