A Wonderful Driverless Future.

The year is 2040 and the driverless car has replaced the motorist.  In this scenario, I describe a world where the car companies Do Not Write the rules of the road. And at least for San Antonio, we have retain and built upon it's roots, not allowing the sprawl to get out of hand. I using the prices of today as I do not know where inflation is heading.  Please before reading this story, read my original post "The Driverless Car, an opportunity being missed."

I got some good news today.  All my coworkers have decided to join me in riding their bicycles to work everyday except when it rain or during blue northern.  I convinced my friend Ted, who is suffering from diabetes, to start riding his bicycle to and from work.  It's been three weeks since he started and he loves it.  Because of him, everyone else started doing it to. And It wouldn't have been possible if the majority of people didn't use driverless cars.  Driverless cars don't care that you are in the way, or running a red light.  They ain't trying to get revenge for hogging an entire lane, they give you plenty of room when passing by.  Because of this technology, there's fewer cars on the road.  

Ever since the City of San Antonio decided to start a war on vacant lots back in 2020, we have for the first time, managed to turn an old subdivision over the recharge zone back into undeveloped land.  We've noticed something that the Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas, have been saying for years, that impervious cover over the recharge zone was causing the big floods and reduced our water supply in the Edwards Aquifer.  Today, the aquifer level is at 700 ft above sea level, a feat that hasn't been achieved for over half a century. It last hit that level back in the early 1990's.

Activists have made their worries known that the Driverless Car Coalition have been tearing down old buildings in other cities to make way for parking garages and lots. Back in 2027, The Driverless Car Coalition, a lobbying group focused on coordinating all driverless car parking in San Antonio and other cities throughout North America, tried to remove the old Greyhound Station leaving nothing but a parking garage. However, due to a Mayor and City Council that had the leadership and foresight to make it law that any new parking garage that is built, the first five floors should be used for either ground floor retail, apartments or office spaces. The Driverless Car Coalition brought in Elon Musk to fear monger that if the 30 story parking garage wasn't built with the first five floors, that there wouldn't be enough parking for driverless cars, thus perpetuating the myth that cars would go around the block endlessly trying to find a parking space. He got his parking garage. However with the first five floors comprised of retail and low income apartments as per city ordnance.

The reason why we don't have empty cars going around in circles is because we have so many options to get around downtown.  Not just transit, but also protected bicycle paths down the major streets like Commerce, Navarro, and even Alamo St. VIA use small driverless buses to supplement the regular routes between major destinations.  So when my friends back in the early 2000s asked me why there wasn't any express buses from downtown to the Medical Center, I said that VIA  can't afford it.  Today, they have small driverless buses between destinations like the Medical Center Transit center to not just downtown, but to places like North Star, Kel-Lac and to even the other side of town like Brooks City Base.

A lot of the old Walmarts and other huge retail spaces on the edge of town are still parking lots, but they're always packed with driverless cars waiting to be called upon at charging stations.

As for me, I'm a truck attendant.  Basically a truck driver, but the computer does the driving.  I'm there to basically take over the vehicle if the computer goes,down, if there's a route that the computer can't understand, or be there to call a mechanic if something breaks down en-route.

I get to work everyday by riding my bicycle.  Because of this, I'm able to save money for my driverless car rental services.  Many of my coworkers pay up to $200 a month, but I pay only $50. I use Ford because they provide free rides to and from HEB, but I also have up to 10 rides per month in a pick up so I can on the weekends, go traveling to a state park or even the Gulf Coast.  It's easier to bring your bicycles along in a pick up than a car. They have offered me early retirement and I have thought about taking up on their offer, but I not ready to make bike lobbing in San Antonio and the State of Texas my number one job, a job that I won't be paid to do.