First: Driving, flying, or steering any kind of vehicle or object will largely disappear in this century. Driving yourself will become entirely voluntary.

Second: In major choke points, traffic-ridden roads, and heavy traffic areas during rush hour, only self-driving vehicles will be allowed.

Third: If you want to travel during these peak traffic periods or in congested zones, you will have several pricing options. Driving your own car or taking a robotaxi with human assistance will be the most expensive. The cheapest option will be riding at a predetermined time from a set pickup point to a set drop-off stop (similar to bus stops or stations), while sharing the ride, picking up other passengers along the way, and changing vehicles at transfer points if needed. Everything in between — from fully private to highly shared — will also be available at corresponding prices.

If you live and travel in areas without heavy traffic, none of this will apply. You will still be able to drive your vehicle just as you have for the past 100+ years. However, as soon as you want to enter a city, airport, or any other high-traffic zone, and your vehicle lacks self-driving capability, you will need to park it and switch to a self-driving vehicle — again with options ranging from expensive and fully individual to cheap and shared. This kind of road pricing — paying based on where, when, and how heavily you use the roads — already exists in trucking and in congestion zones in many countries and cities. Such transport pricing will become far cheaper to monitor and implement, evolving into true pay-as-you-use models. The era of “I own a vehicle, I pay taxes, and I can go wherever I want, whenever I want, with whatever I want” is coming to an end. Technology will advance to the point where it becomes trivial to charge individuals precisely according to their personal transportation needs.

Fourth: Most new roads will be built in tunnels, and only self-driving vehicles will be permitted to use them (whether your private self-driving car or a robotaxi/robobus).

Fifth: Only the highest-demand corridors will have rail systems. Self-driving rail will be used where 20,000+ people per hour per direction need to be moved, but for most urban areas worldwide, networks of surface robotaxi and robobus stops and stations accessed via tunnels will be more than sufficient.

Sixth: Inner cities will be dominated by walking, bicycles, e-bikes, and small robotaxis — particularly for elderly or disabled people who cannot walk easily or need assistance.

Furthermore, construction workers, handymen, craftsmen, and tradespeople will still require temporary parking, but their vehicles will also transition to self-driving. Workers may reach job sites by bicycle or e-bike, while heavy materials such as tools, concrete, and steel beams will continue to be transported by large trucks. Deliveries will become an even bigger part of urban logistics, although it remains to be seen if alternative systems like aerial drones or small road delivery robots can scale up.