With no humans or batteries, self-driving cars will hurt both economy, environment

No. That isn't the biggest, roof-mounted boom box you've ever seen. That's an autonomous Ford Fusion with a human back-up driver Uber will use to pick up passengers in Pittsburgh. Once the self-driving car is perfected, Uber likely will fire tens of thousands of drivers. This photo is from The Associated Press.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

GM, Ford, Volvo, Uber, Google and other companies are investing billions of dollars in the race to develop self-driving cars.

But I've seen little discussion of whether they will be gasoline powered, hybrids or all-electric.

Only an all-electric self-driving car makes sense, given climate change and the 53,000 deaths each year from auto emissions.

And when Uber perfects a self-driving car, you can bet the unemployment lines will swell with tens of thousands of drivers let go by the anti-labor, ride-hailing monstrosity.

Only Google has said its self-driving cars will be "mainly electric."

BMW, Nissan lag

The media have been spending so much time reporting on the development of autonomous cars they've neglected to ask BMW and Nissan when they are going to market EVs with a range of at least 200 miles.

Only California-based Tesla Motors has achieved the magic combination of a minimum of 200 miles of range and free juice at the automaker's nationwide network of free Superchargers.

That's why Tesla outsells other EVs, even those that cost half the price.

The Model S and Model X SUV already have Autopilot and Autosteer for highway cruising, and the luxury four-door hatchbacks also park themselves and back out of your garage.

Chevrolet is expected to start selling the Bolt late this year with an MSRP of $37,500 and a range of 200 miles on a full charge, but has refused to say whether free charging will be available to owners on road trips.

And the Bolt will take a full 9 hours to charge at home with a 240-volt outlet, compared to less than 7 hours for a Tesla.

The Maybach 6 all-electric concept from Mercedes-Benz will have a range of only 200 miles on a full charge and an MSRP I'm guessing will easily top $200,000, if and when it is produced in four to five years.