This is exactly why I'm excited about self-driving cars. They could potentially take the hassle out of travel. Just get in the car and relax until you arrive.

Also, think of all the unused space of our roads and highway system at night. I took a night train in Thailand and it was wonderful. Slept like a baby and woke up in the next town.

Even more so living in a slightly larger one as rents cost so much in cities, it'll be cheaper just to live in the SDC. I believe it'll be viable for 300 miles in the day and 500 miles overnight sleeping.

Wonderful! I would love this. Is there a way to keep someone safe in a crash if they are lying down? Can you imagine an RV (large or small) being self driving? The possibilities are endless...

This isn't just about the longer drives. It's about lots of shorter intercity travel not well served by mass transit. Arrive at/near your destination comfortable and having gotten some stuff done rather than cranky and exhausted.
I hope Volvo or someone else engineers it so it can do well in winter.

Can't wait for a self-driving RV . . . wake me when we get to Yellowstone!

It is eighteen years into the Twenty-first century and in all respects we are still living in the past. Our cities are a mixture of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century housing and transportation that is over one hundred years old. Planes, trains and automobiles in this country has not fundamentally changed since its conception, we just have more crowded roadways, airways and waterways. So, how is this going to be the game changer that everyone is hoping for, and who will be able to afford this new form of technology? Will it make our lives that much better, or will it produce a whole new set of problems? There is a lot of talk about the middle class and what makes a person middle class, this technology is geared towards the "middle class", at a time of the decline of the middle (working) class. The auto industry relies on the vibrancy of the working class, and even Henry Ford knew this to be the case. He even stated that for the industry to grow, workers have to be able to buy back what they produced. The [real] middle class (shop owners, and the vast middle men in the chain of industrial production) and the working class which make up the bulk of class society, is where the wealth of a nation lies. The auto industry outsourced its production line to union free and low wage countries to raise their bottom line, now that the vast working class in this country has shrunk to nearly nada, who are they going to sell these futuristic cars to? The falling rate of profits. I like the cars but I know I will not be able to afford it.

The San Diego to LA route is not really a good example. If you drive it you can take anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3.5 hours depending on traffic. A flight takes 45 minutes. Typically you are going to a connecting flight in LA, so starting in San Diego on a plane makes more sense. I do like the concept of an autonomous road travel, but I would like to see a semi trailer or a bus that takes you to your destination, you get to sight see on the way, and take your hotel with you. Sorry of a cruise ship, but on land.

I am wondering how a completely autonomous system of vehicles will handle parking when you arrive near your destination.
Will there be large parking lots/structures that you would then de-car from (and then use other methods to reach the end destination ) ?
How will individual vehicles compete for city parking spaces? Who gets priority and how? Will vehicles communicate with each other to decide? If the area of your destination is full will your vehicle circle the block endlessly until a space opens up?
Or will there be a centralized , universal co-ordination system much like airplanes use. ( once you punch in your destination would the system reserve a space at your destination at the time of your estimated arrival?)
How many redundancies would a universal control system need to avoid total chaos when systems fail? How do you establish enough sensors along the roadway so that if a highway bridge fails, vehicles don't go over the end like Lemmings?
I hope there are people out there in the industry who are considering such things.

Where's the toilet?