From HS2 to AM1

HS2 is set to cost over £100bn and yet by the time it is finished it will be old technology and it looks set not even to run along the full length beyond Birmingham.

Instead of wasting more money on such outdated and expensive technology, the government could pivot and create the world's first Autonomous Motorway - the AM1.

Due to the restrictions of what infrasturture has already been built for HS2, AM1 would likely need to be a single highway along which travelled fully autonmous coaches and pods, all powered by electricity they took from the road (akin to a full-size scalextric).

The vehicles' speed would be capped at 100mph, so they would be slower than the trains, however they would run every minute of the day, saving time waiting for trains to depart.

The vehicles would also be specifically designed to provide great workspaces - sound-proof booths with ultra-fast WiFi, so that the journey was no different to being in an office, in effect reducing the journey time to zero as passengers would be working throughout as they would if still in their office.

Such an AM1 would achieve much better traffic density (as there wouldn't need to be large gaps between trains to enable them to slow down), moving more passengers, more cheaply, with a better service.

And the UK would be a world-leader in this new technology, rather than a laggard in Hiigh Speed Rail.

It would be much easier to extend AM1 into the North, realsing the original intent of HS2 but at a fraction of the cost, and setting the foundations for a national network of autonmous motorways to reform and improve public transport.

Even better, the vehicles could stop along the route, enabling a strong of apartments to be built along the route, or small towns at specific sites, helping to overomce the UK's housing criss and nimbyism by building on areas already used to infrastructure and that have receive planning permission.

Similar models could be used to for other inter-city links, such as Oxford and Cambridge and Manchester and Leeds, providing a better, lower cost connection, and a model for connecting public infrastructure to housing - somewhat akin to Saudi Arabia's proposed mile-wide city in the desert, but designed for the UK.

China is investing heavily in their 'low-altitude econmy' of flying cars and drones, showing the possibility of futuristic innovation. The UK needs to catch up, and AM1 would be a great place to start.