The problem isn't so much the act of driving, though society would likely see some benefits from that time being used more productively (even if for leisure).

It's that the car is tied to you.

Everywhere you go, it needs a place to stay while you're doing anything outside your car. Parking spots average $5,000 per surface space, $20,000 per space in an above-ground parking structure, and $32,0000 underground. Every moment your car sits in one, it depreciates without performing useful work.

This is the argument that always gets made, but I just don’t buy it. The fact of the matter is that you will always need a ton more cars during rush hour, and those cars have to be stationed somewhere during non peak hours. So no matter what, you’ve got cars needing to be parked in high density areas.

That's a potentially very interesting perspective to me.

My point of view would be that Americans are spending on average about an hour every day driving. That's an hour that could very well be spent doing any number of more interesting and/or productive tasks. How is that not a high priority problem?

Because it's hard to recover those hours entirely unless you just plain don't get into a car.

Rides are often too short to context switch into doing anything useful.

Even then there are all sorts of situations today where people are being transported in a car not requiring focus -- but aren't effectively recovering this time:

* Riding in a Lyft: I suppose in practice someone could whip out a laptop, but you rarely see it happen. Rides too short, induces carsickness, etc.

* Riding in a vehicle that is L2 autonomous. While not legal or particularly safe, in practice, someone driving an Autopiloting Tesla can read and respond to emails. (i.e. similar situation as being in a Lyft)

> Rides are often too short to context switch into doing anything useful.

People on public transit usually use their newspaper / book / phone. Sometimes they miss their stop because they are too involved doing that. Have you used SF<->Bay transit on Google buses or something like that? From my experience it's pretty comfortable and productive to use laptops during ride to check tons of morning emails and it saves a lot of on-campus time.

> where people are being transported in a car not requiring focus -- but aren't effectively recovering this time:

Your examples require some kind of attention to driver or focus on road situation:

> Riding in a Lyft: I suppose in practice someone could whip out a laptop, but you rarely see it happen.

Riding alone vs riding with human driver differs a lot, especially for introvert people (e.g. talking in company of friends is much more comfortable then talking in company of strangers). It's hard to ignore presence of other human during ride.

> Riding in a vehicle that is L2 autonomous. While not legal or particularly safe, in practice, someone driving an Autopiloting Tesla can read and respond to emails. (i.e. similar situation as being in a Lyft)

You have to use your peripheral vision to control situation on the road. You can't fully concentrate on your work and be productive.

I dunno, I’d say people probably worry more about health care than their optimal productivity.