I apologise, i didn't mean to sound insulting or condescending.
But the point I was trying to convey is that Australia is rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Doesn't mean I can't relate to your and undoubtedly many other Australians situation of having to traverse distances with few public transportation options. Having said that, most people in Australia do live around the metropolitan areas where there are public transportation options (e.g. buses). Not going to argue that they are perfect or comfortable, but I've been there and used them.
I could well take Switzerland as the other end of the extreme. We have roughly 8 million citizens living across 40'000 km^2 (living area is quite a bit smaller due to lakes and mountains with an altitude of over 2000m) so we have a very large population density.
Apparently, at the same time, we have the most dense train network in the world. Traversing from town to town or larger distances and/or into the cities is easy, fast, safe and efficient.
The point being, it would be unfair to tackle the entire AV argument using Switzerland or Australia as any point of reference or benchmark. On the other hand though, any place that sees an increase in population leading to congestion is highlighting the problem it will eventually lead to; more people, more congestion, more time in traffic, lower travel speeds, less desire to use 'cars as a transport method'.
The question is; when will your place get there? Is it already? In 5 years? 10? 50?
Autonomous vehicles is not solving the problem of 'efficiency' nor will it solve the issue of having more and more cars on the road. So does it
really make sense to invest into a future of AVs instead of lets say a better public transportation network?
It flies against the whole reasoning and goal of wanting to be more [energy] efficient. The automotive industry is just looking for ways to sustain their business model a little while longer...
PS: Oh and btw; you are right, my Exige isn't very practical. Despite living in perhaps the most convenient country on this planet in regards to public transportation, I don't use it. I'm not even a fan of it. But on the topic of AVs I can actually put aside my personal preference and objectively discuss what makes economic sense and what doesn't. Driving my Lotus isn't. But I can see beyond that. So I am not arguing as a pro car enthusiast or an anti-AV person. I'm simply making educated guesses of where the future is heading and questioning if AVs is really the answer to any of the increasing problems we are facing.
