re: Regarding AI and Driverless Cars...

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Could not be more wrong about these statements.

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That's cute.

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1) If cyber security is bad now, wait till they hack your car and not just your personnel records. Have fun with that one

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Certainly, this is an issue as "they" can already hack cars, easily. It will have to be dealt with like any other security issue but like everything computer related the is a cost benefit that will certainly be overcome.

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2) AI in a car has nothing to do with commute distance. You somehow think an AI car will re-design every city in the nation. Shorter commute time means increased population density. Where will the cars park?

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I should have been more precise but I assumed anyone discussing this would know commutes would be shorter in duration, not distance we aren't talking about bending space. The autonomous cars have the potential to essentially prevent traffic jams. They can correctly zipper, adjust speed to avoid accordion effects as well as avoid rubbernecking. Traffic flow will be closer to optimum and can adjust departure times for most efficient travel. Glad you brought up parking. Autonomous cars long term will make much more efficient use of parking areas, cutting down space dedicated to it in urban areas. Plus they can drop commuters off and park at remote facilities to further increase efficiency in certain situations and they can be hailed to pick you up as needed or at a specific time.

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3) With automated transportation, commute time would shrink by small amounts. Not anything close to making a significant impact on your day's work or the resulting leisure time.

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The more urban areas will see significant reductions in commute time for the reasons discussed above. You forget that your time commuting can now be productive instead of just driving. You can work during the commute, catch up on sleep if your commute is long enough, read a book, watch TV, cut your toenails, write a novel etc. The average US commute is 25 minutes one way so the average person gains 50 minutes a day to do basically anything they do sitting at home or work. More productive and/or more relaxed. The average persons stress level would be reduced as well, better health, better life.

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4) People already text, talk, and email while they drive. AI cars won't magically ramp that up a great deal. Marginal increases, at best.

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Some of that is illegal. But, even if it weren't without having to drive a person would be MUCH more efficient at everything but talking. You just can't imagine how much one could get done during the commute time unless you live a couple of minutes from work.

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5) Insurance and cost of ownership will sky rocket. You will be mandated to install the latest software, the latest updates, patches, and so forth, and guess what, you're going to pay through the nose because the insurance company needs to be able to afford all the monitoring capabilities to check up on you and your car. After all, it's in the interest of safety, the foundation for wanting the AI cars in the first place, according to people like you.

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Car insurance is a highly regulated industry and the majority of cost is for liability which when fully implemented those cost with drop my multiple magnitudes. Cost of ownership will initially be higher just like the transition from horse and carriage to automobiles. The early adopters will bear a lot of the costs by choice and it will reach a tipping point where it will be more than worth it for most every person who now owns a car. It won't happen in two years but it will happen. All the software updates and patches will be automatic unless they are simply comfort or convenience. Does your insurance company check your car today to see if your brakes are in good working order or whether your tires have adequate tread? Seriously, you are going out of your way to make silly issues that just aren't there. I never said it was all about safety, did you even read what I wrote, there is a LOT to do with comfort and convenience as well.

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6) Dedicated lanes / roadways etc and continued advances in fuel efficiency will equal or surpass cost savings and time savings on moving goods from ports of entry

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All of those things you mention could be utilized with autonomous vehicles. Taking out drivers who are limited in time per day they can drive saves a ton of cost. Also, this opens up the use of more smaller trucks to move goods in a more direct path to the end user and cutting out the need for many if not most large transfer facilities. This has the potential to completely revolutionize the movement of goods from port/factory to final destination.

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AI transportation will find a niche in urban clusters and there it will be great. Outside that it will be awful.

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Actually trucking both long and short haul has the most to gain from this. Just like it was inconceivable to many in the 80s that the computer would be ubiquitous and in the early 90s the cell phone would be essentially a requirement for modern living autonomous vehicles will become the norm and at some point a requirement for everyday life. The AI for all this to happen is driven in part by Godwin's law and it is coming, like it or not.