Wouldn't self-driving, self-charging cars of all stripes address long-term long-distance travel? It seems like the hyperloop would make it considerably faster, but not in and of itself solve long-distance travel--a Tesla could travel cross-country. But the development of the hyperloop could represent a huge diversion from Tesla's (and Solar City's) development
For years I have dreamt of the streets being reclaimed from traffic, limited to just pedestrians, bicycles and perhaps trams/buses; my idea being that commuter and leisure traffic could be carried out underground or on a separate "layer". I know it's bit of a pipe dream, and certainly not unique to me, but maybe things like the htperloop could help realise this dream.
levels, service area size, vehicle relocation strategies, and fleet size. Preliminary results indicate that each SAV can replace around eleven conventional vehicles, but adds up to 10% more travel distance than comparable non-SAV trips, resulting in overall beneficial emissions impacts, once fleet-efficiency changes and embodied versus in-use emissions are assessed. Fagnant & Kockelman, 2009 &Case studies vary trip generation rates, trip distribution patterns, network congestion
TaxiBots combined with high-capacity public transport could remove 9 out of every 10 cars in a mid-sized European city. Even in the scenario that least reduces the number of cars (AutoVots without high-capacity public transport), nearly eight out of ten cars could be removed. UITP, 2015
I'm looking forward to seeing cities reclaimed from car parking. While roads may still be clogged with traffic, I look forward to the day when those cars drive off after dropping their passengers to go recharge or get another passenger. Just clearing roads of parked cars and reducing the need for parking structures will go a long way to opening up the city centers.