Quarter of miles driven in US by 2030 expected to be driverless

Bloomberg

A quarter of all miles driven in the US could be in shared, self-driving electric cars by the end of the next decade, setting off a seismic shift that will upend the auto industry, according to a study on the rise of the autonomous age.
A convergence of three trends — ride sharing, autonomous driving and vehicle electrification — will drive the shift, the Boston Consulting Group said in a study released Monday. The change will be most profound in cities with more than 1 million people, where consumers will find it more economically advantageous to exit their personal vehicles and start hailing robot taxis. “The automotive industry is on the brink of a major transformation, and it’ll be here faster than people realize,” Justin Rose, a BCG partner leading its digital efforts for industrial companies, said in a statement. “For millions of Americans living in large cities, the next vehicle they purchase may be the last car they ever own.”
Auto companies will face wrenching changes as more than 5 million conventional cars are replaced by an estimated 4.7 million autonomous electric vehicles by 2030, the consulting company said. A typical Chicago consumer could cut his commuting cost by $7,000 a year by ditching a personal car in favor a shared autonomous electric vehicle, BCG said. That trend will make car dealers “less relevant” and turn “hundreds of billions of dollars worth of industry assets” into liabilities, BCG said.
The consulting firm projects that as many as 925 billion miles (1.5 trillion kilometers) traveled in the US in 2030 will be in shared, self-driving electric cars.