Tesla released its new personal-use Cybercab, and I think it’s going to take a while for people to get used to the idea that they don’t actually want to drive. But it will probably surprise us how quickly people realize that driving was never the most important or useful part of transportation. It was getting places comfortably.

What Tesla is offering is an ultra-safe, comfortable car that chauffeurs you wherever you want to go, at a relatively affordable price. I think parents will quickly realize they don’t want their kids speeding or getting into accidents. They just want them to go somewhere safely, reliably, and comfortably. A car like this will be incredibly attractive to them.

There’s also a whole class of people, especially city dwellers, who need transportation but don’t like the Uber and Lyft experience and don’t want to own a car because parking is too expensive. If they could simply call a car at any time, get in, and go somewhere, that would be incredibly attractive. I think we’re going to see a lot of experimentation: personal ownership, rentals, leases, and everything else.

I’ve said for quite some time that the moment insurers have enough data to show that it’s safer for people not to drive autonomous vehicles, the days will be numbered for affordable insurance to drive yourself. If you want to see road-related deaths go down, you’re probably going to have to remove most drivers from behind the steering wheel. People make poor decisions.

This is going to revolutionize transportation. It will make it cheaper, quieter, and more environmentally friendly. It may mean more cars on the road, but they’ll be electric cars. How quickly it happens will depend on cultural norms, energy infrastructure, and laws around autonomous driving. Some states will embrace it, and others will reject it. But over the next ten years or so, I think we’re going to see a significant shift in what people think the most interesting part of transportation is.