How Self-Driving Electric Cars Will Change the American Road Trip

With the long Labor Day weekend upon us, tens of millions of Americans will hit the road in an annual rite. Along the way, drivers will fill up gas tanks, grab a bite to eat, stretch their legs, perhaps stay the night at a motel. Should autonomous, electric vehicles displace traditional automobiles, this roadside economy and ecosystem will be disrupted. How and when remains to be seen.

Thanks to the construction of the interstate highway system decades ago, it's relatively easy and affordable to drive hundreds of miles for leisure or to visit friends and family. The commercial and automobile infrastructure has been built incrementally over decades to accommodate drivers and internal-combustion engines.