Driverless cars are new enough that we don’t know the real impacts, but they are estimated to save the US government $211B annually if there is a 50% adoption rate. Part of the savings comes from simply rerouting traffic by having autonomous cars coordinate traffic flows. Another saving is in the decrease in accidents. Accidents cost drivers money, but they cost governments money, too. Injuries and deaths are to be avoided, of course; and autonomous operations are expected to prevent many of the lives lost in accidents, 32,675 in 2014 as an example. It may be cheaper, easier, and quicker to change our vehicles than to change our infrastructure. The infrastructure definitely needs to be improved, but deploying a fleet of vehicles may be the first step.
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Pretending Not To Panic 
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