But remote work has been an option for decades, and rush hour is still a thing.

The US has largely abandoned new road construction which IMO is a large part of the issue. There is an old saying you can't build your way out of congestion, but it really does work in many areas. Just look at a small town building a bypass.

The problem is when congestion is so bad it's suppressing trips there is a middle ground when improvements are less obvious. That and city's need to be designated to absorb highway traffic or highways just end up as expensive parking lots.

An option, sure, but not for the labor side of things, and why should a corp care about congestion?

Remote work requires eye contact, which doesn’t exist yet. It will happen rapidly once we have VR with eye tracking.

The other thing missing from remote work tools is collocated workspaces (can’t fit that on your monitor). Existing VR tech solves that problem though.

Instead of working on Google Docs in your office, you’ll work IN Google Docs in VR, and your coworkers will be there nearby, and you’ll be able to talk face to face without leaving your workspace.

Certainly not all remote work requires eye contact, including the vast majority of white collar jobs--especially technical jobs. This argument is silly and never comes with anything but anecdotal evidence and arbitrary standards. In reality, managers want people in the room with them because it's easier on them.

Well, how do you explain "it's easier" then? I gave my explanation of why I think it's easier. Do you have another theory?

There are jobs you cannot do remotely, or at the very least requires a person on site for your remote commands to work.