>We're going to have to shrink our car infrastructure, build denser cities, and construct serious public transportation to serve the core, not stroad-based big box stores and low density suburbs.

I would have agreed with you a few decades ago, but with the advent of all-electric self driving cars, many of the negatives associated with high levels of driving will not be of concern anymore. Being driven is more relaxing, less susceptible to whether, more productive (you can take calls, work or read while on the move) and more private.

America's poor choices for the latter part of last century and the early part of this century are about to be partially undone. There will still be heat islands and lack of biodiversity because of the larger amounts of concrete, but over time that can be reduced as cars don't need to park (like a taxi, they just move to the next job) and fewer lanes will be needed (because the cars themselves can safely travel more quickly, and in more dense road-trains)