Self-Driving Vehicles Will Dramatically Hike Miles Traveled

The advent of autonomous vehicles will raise personal miles traveled in the U.S. by roughly 1 trillion miles per year by 2050, KPMG LLP predicts.

The advisory firm’s new report, The Clockspeed Dilemma, says mobility-on-demand services will dramatically expand travel by youth and ageing Baby Boomers.

For youth under the age of 16, robotic vehicles will relieve parents of providing taxi service. For seniors 65 and older, such vehicles will enable them to continue traveling well after their ability to drive themselves has faded.

The KPMG report points to focus groups in the U.S. that indicate Millennials and Baby Boomers already like the idea of mobility-on-demand services and will drive future demand for self-driving vehicles. The analysis predicts similar appeal in other markets around the world.

Such trends offer great opportunity for carmakers, the report says. But it notes the traditional industry will undergo significant change as new players—who don’t have to contend with an existing infrastructure—enter the business. These new competitors are speeding the arrival of autonomous vehicles. car-to-car connectivity and “explosive” growth in digitized data, KPMG says.