Futurists often propose autonomous vehicles as the solution to the traffic jams clogging megacities. In principle, self-driving cars could provide an answer to yet another problem: road accidents, which claim 1.25 million lives worldwide every year.
Of course, the two deaths in the United States this year involving autonomous vehicles call for caution but stringency might be an overreaction. As the technology develops, it might have the potential to relegate road carnage to history.
The path to safer roads, however, will not be easy.
Megacities will need to transform to realize the potential of such vehicles. Here are three areas that need special attention: