Autonomous Travel May Increase Density

A new NBER paper summarized here argues that some 21st‑century transport technologies—especially shared autonomous mobility that cuts in‑vehicle time cost—can be centripetal (pull people into denser cores) rather than dispersing them. The key condition is that people take more discretionary trips when travel costs fall (elasticity of trips >1), and that regulatory inertia will shape where those effects appear. — If true, planners and housing policymakers must rethink zoning, transit investment, and climate policy because transport tech could drive renewed urban centralization in many places.