There's no need to make the autonomous "bus" replacements to follow a fixed route. Just have it take you direct to your destination (within the local region, I suppose.) Most could be a very small vehicle, just 4 passengers or so. And lightweight and efficient, since they can go get recharged as needed, and be taken out of service when there's less demand. No need for a big bus that runs empty a lot of the time.
Downsides:
I wonder if personally owned autonomous cars will just "circle the block" while the owner is running errands, instead of trying to park. Lots of congestion.
If there are competing "uber" point to point services, will they send empty cars to cruise popular areas so they can have the shortest pickup times? Packs of empty cars!
Last edited by rm -rf; 06-20-18 at 06:33 AM.