“I wish that I didn’t have to count on other people to get around so much,” Lilia tells me. Though all her daughters still live in Southern California, none is near enough to visit daily. They stop by on the weekends and pick her up or arrange a ride-hail for her to join family gatherings. And while, happily, she has a younger friend, 75, who takes her out regularly, Lilia would prefer to have more independence outside the home.

The Carson Park neighborhood isn’t changing anytime soon. While the approval of new accessory dwelling units may boost its density, it will remain a residential area where nondrivers are isolated. Technology, however, is changing. Lilia can no longer drive herself, but she and millions of other Americans may soon see their communities reopened to them by the self-driving car—if public policy doesn’t erect roadblocks.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) work, and work well. First, an extensive roster of instruments collects sensory data. Then, an onboard computing system plots the safest, most efficient path to a desired destination. The sensors that tend to do the heaviest lifting are 360-degree lidar (light-wave detection and ranging), radar (radio-wave detection and ranging), infrared tech, ultrasonic tech, and cameras. Artificial intelligence does the rest, taking the place of a human decision-maker in the driver’s seat.