Their chief priority is profit, isolation and creating a sense of elitism. Public transit is incompatible with all that. So we need buses that are set up like casinos with live bands
The previous Italian government appointed Cingolani, someone with strong ties to ENI (an infamous Italian multinational energy company with a history of oil leaks and bribes) to the the so-called "ecological transition".
The current Italian government has cut the subsidies for public transportation and has announced public funding for a renewal of privately-owned cars.
There is no way out of this. The last CEO will die whispering, "profits are up, though."
I read in a book that the current system of drivers acting on their own without something coordinating their every move is actually 75% as efficient as a fully coordinated system.
Therefore, the benefit obtained with all people using self driving cars is nothing compared to just improving public transit or improving car infrastructure.
With a few exceptions, US housing is so sprawled out that I don't know how we could do an effective train system. As things presently stand where I live, there's a decent train system, but most people have to travel several miles to get to the nearest station. For many, the park and ride concept works ok, so I suppose that reduces traffic a little bit.
I work in a corridor that lies between two lines with no public transportation anywhere near it.
I guess adding a shiton of buses from residential neighborhoods to train stations would help, but the time that would take would meet with enormous resistance from those who would rather sit in stop and go traffic in the comfort of their giant eighty thousand dollar pickup trucks (in which they are invariably up to their ears in debt)
Under current infrastructure, my twenty minute commute would take over three hours each way on public transportation, and I'd have to be in good enough shape to ride a bike a couple miles to the nearest bus stop, not taking rain snow ice or sweltering summer heat into consideration.
It can be better, but I don't know that it can be ideal as suggested in the OP without compelling several million people to move closer to the city center.
Trains are the perfect solution to move people between hubs, but it still doesn't solve for the last mile problem - which could be solved very effectively with self driving cars (buses, bikes and scooters can work too but based on the usage it can be a mix of all).
I would love a self driving car that would drop me off at the train station, then take itself back home until I return.
Public transport is good, but has it's own problems. You can't bring the sort of goods you can with your own transport (or you have to rely on the store to do it, which still leaves the problem of cars on the road). They become superspreader events during flu/covid season. If you have to take care of an elderly family member, they may have problems getting on them and finding seats, which can become a health hazard for them. Scooters have also been banned from some forms of public transport due to the risk of poor quality poorly maintained lithium batteries exploding, which still leaves the last mile problem.
Me a guy in infrastructure: hahahahaha... oh wait you were serious. Let me laugh even harder now.
Engineering is to a great extent accepting the givens. Cost disease grows more rampant by the year without showing any signs of letting up. There are ways to fix that but we aren't going to do them. The reason why people are considering solutions like this is because better solutions aren't possible any more.