Trains don't operate from door to door. The last mile problem persist, unless you travel between railway connected city centres. Not everyone lives anywhere near a railway station.
(I live in Europe which has relatively good railway network, still I prefer my Tesla as transport method.)
True, they also run such a trains here in Finland, an overnight trip from south to north (Lapland). The train tickets for our family of 5 plus a car are so expensive (total 1200 eur) compared to minimal marginal cost for using our EV (150 eur), that we always choose the car.
They were suggesting they want to use the same vehicle door to door with it being automated during the freeway bit. A train would still mean find some transport to the station, wait for the train, ride train, find transport from station.
I'll answer that with another piece of prognostication: good highway self-driving will cause massive disruption to the airline industry.
Would you rather do this for a business trip to a 400-500 mile away city:
- fixed time to depart (and fixed for leaving your destination!)
- have to book ticket weeks in advance for a reasonable flight
- no flexiblity if plans change
- pack a small bag
- transit to an airport (parking or cab or whatever)
- arrive a sufficient amount of time in advance
- check in
- go through security
- get on plane, stuck in seat, no/crappy food
- get off plane, go to car rental place
- rent car (not yours, sucks)
- cost: 100-200$, and if you want to bring anyone it's a multiple of that.
- no cell phone, restricted to plane wifi if they have it
- door-to-door is what, 4 hours? Man I hope there isn't a delay....
Or, with self-driving:
- pack your car or minivan to the brim with stuff you need
- leave when you want
- sleep / stop to eat / stop to bathroom when you need it
- full cell coverage / hotspot
- take additional people
- EV cost is like... 20-40$ for the trip if you include wear and tear?
- door to door is... 5-6 hours
If the car is driving for you, it is far less stressful, flexible, much cheaper, especially if you want to take your family.
Trains are a ... bit ... better than airplanes, but still inflexible, surprisingly expensive, won't have your car at the other end, have to haul around your luggage rather than chuck it into YOUR CAR.
When good highway self-driving comes, I will probably never fly anything less than 1000 miles. If I get a self-driving RV that's EV self-recharging at charge stations? Hell I might get rid of my apartment.
Both trains and planes centralise assets, services and pathways, allowing for rent seeking and anti competitive behaviour, government and regulatory capture, and by their very nature are anti consumer and pro big business. Hence their dominance and the increasing pressure on self driving EVs.
You are saying this in a thread about a company that regularly sells features as a subscription and revokes them upon resell, as well as voids warranty if you get it repaired anywhere that's not a Tesla shop. Tesla have entrenched themselves as rent seekers from the beginning.
But cars need infrastructure (roads) which tend to create the same exact thing (big construction corps getting all the cake, thanks to political connections). The scale is for sure smaller but still...
