This was my experience as well while I was stationed in Germany. If you wanted to go downtown, public transport was the clear choice. It was faster, and I didn't have to spend time parking my car.
We have a lack of imagination when it comes to cars. (That, and market-driven commercial interests.) "Cars, but electric!" to deal with climate change. "Cars, but autonomous!" to deal with...what? It's not clear what problem self-driving cars are meant to solve that mass transit couldn't do much better. And this idea of a white light is nuts, for the reasons others have given in comments. It just shows how far off the rails we're willing to go (pardon the pun) in attempting to stick with car-based solutions.
We have a lack of imagination when it comes to cars. (That, and market-driven commercial interests.) "Cars, but electric!" to deal with climate change. "Cars, but autonomous!" to deal with...what? It's not clear what problem self-driving cars are meant to solve that mass transit couldn't do much better. And this idea of a white light is nuts, for the reasons others have given in comments. It just shows how far off the rails we're willing to go (pardon the pun) in attempting to stick with car-based solutions.