“There are a lot of advantages you can think about,” says Brian Wolshon, the founding director of the Center for Evacuation and Transportation Resiliency at Louisiana State University. For one thing, even partially autonomous vehicles could improve traffic flow, if there were enough of them. During evacuations, Wolshon says, dense crowding, traffic disturbances, and slower human reaction times tend to depress per-hour traffic volumes, compared to what you’d see during a regular rush hour. If everyone was using, say, Tesla’s Autopilot—which can speed and slow a vehicle in a responsive manner while maintaining lane position (and avoiding rubbernecking)—they could move closer together and at higher speeds, getting more bodies to safety faster. This kind of effect could still be years down the road, though, since “you’d need to have a lot of vehicles with that kind of control to see any real difference in volume,” says Wolshon.

Most of the nation’s largest 50 cities lack any kind of comprehensive evacuation protocols for those without cars.

Closer on the horizon, however, are “connected” cars, which have the ability to communicate with other vehicles (“V to V” technology) or with traffic infrastructure such as lights and cameras (“V to I”). These are sort of like the first rung on the ladder to full automation. In an evacuation, such cars could disperse information about washed-out roads, traffic hazards, and alternative routes. That could help keep motorists out of harm’s way and traffic flowing more smoothly. “If cars are giving drivers strategic routing information, then you get a better utilization of the road network,” says Wolshon. Connected vehicles could also scoop up notices about nearby food, shelter, gas, and medical services.

True fully autonomous cars may be a decade or more away, but such vehicles could revolutionize evacuations. Imagine fleets of robotic trucks, buses, and specialized vehicles navigating treacherous terrain, ferrying supplies, picking up evacuees, and even making rescue trips—without putting human drivers in danger (or doing donuts in the submerged streets, like this halfwit in Florida did last week).

Perhaps no one would stand to benefit from such technology more than the populations that are most vulnerable during floods, hurricanes, and other disasters. Some of Hurricane Matthew’s worst damage this week fell upon extremely poor neighborhoods, which tend to have lower rates of auto ownership. Same with Katrina, where the poorest New Orleanians were left behind because they couldn’t drive out. Similarly, folks who are prevented from driving due to age or medical limitations are often left scrambling for assistance when they have to leave their homes—especially given that 35 of the nation’s largest 50 cities lack any kind of comprehensive evacuation protocols for those without cars. That’s according to John Renne, who directs the Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions at Florida Atlantic University and is an expert in evacuating car-less populations. But what if self-driving shuttles went back and forth to pick them up? “Autonomous vehicles could be an incredible tool to basically ensure that people who don’t have cars can evacuate by themselves, without having to rely on the government,” says Renne.