Should autonomous transit take a ‘disaggregated’ approach?

The race to develop and realise autonomous vehicles (AVs) has largely operated under the assumption that they would, for the most part, replicate the form and function of normal road vehicles. The only meaningful difference is they don’t need to be driven manually: an autonomous SUV still resembles an SUV; an autonomous truck still looks like a truck; and so on. But what if this approach to autonomy falls short of the technology’s potential?