They would be mostly – but not all – good for state and local revenues.
By Frank Shafroth | Governing
he expectations over driverless cars are stratospherically high. For one, there’s the fascination with the technology and the presumption of an easier commute: The self-driving car will take us to work while we surf the Internet, read files and review emails. Once it drops us off, it returns home where others in our household can use it — until it’s time to call it to pick us up and take us home again.
There’s more to this futuristic concept than creature comforts, though. With self-driving cars anticipated to be in wider use on our roads within four years, there are promises of extraordinary impacts on state and local finances — most of them positive; a few not. Several reports from some of the biggest names in banking put startling numbers on the effects wrought by a changeover to driverless driving.
