Do you think that no one at UPS, FedEx, Walmart or Amazon has ever looked at how much more efficient or what cost saving they could get if "only they had a rail line to their warehouses verse a road?"
What the discussion is looking at is making a micro improvement to what we have already tested as the better method of delivery, trucks in this case. Where the issue is coming about is we are trying to build autonomous actions into a hybrid roadway verse dedicating a portion of a roadway to autonomous driving. The article states the following:
"Trucking was supposed to be the ideal first application of autonomous driving. Freeways contain predictable, highly structured driving
scenarios"
The term you’re looking for is armchair logistics.
Trains and trucks have been competing for a long time. Autonomous trucks, even in convoys, even where freeways have RFID signs, are vastly different from trains. You don’t need to lay and maintain tracks. You’re not limited to where tracks go. You can assemble and disassemble on demand.
No, the roads and signs are already there and being maintained.
Long distance or regional trains are often driving on very very old train networks.
I don't know much about trains, but I guess if you would build a new train line now you could also automate it. But that is just a guess.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_driverless_train_syste...