Roads For Autonomous Vehicles

The excitement of the advent of autonomous vehicles has subsided somewhat. It's no longer a daily feature of media speculation. Unfortunately, a major aspect of the highways being taken over by driverless cars is the highways themselves. 

While automobiles of any kind are, relatively speaking, fairly new technology, roads have been around for a long time, as explained here.

Asphalt was used for road building in Babylon about 625 BC. The crushed rock and asphalt method developed by Scotsman John Macadam paved the roads in the British Isles beginning in 1822. In the latter half of the 19th century roads all over the US were built with the same technique. The only difference between then and now is the sophisticated machinery used to create these highways. The latest examples are virtually the same as those of 150 years ago. One difference, however, is that the current black top highways are covered with more traffic and heavier trucks. This means that these  roads quickly develop cracks and pot holes that need frequent repair, closing down long stretches and creating serious traffic problems.

While automobiles have incorporated design changes that have increased their lifespan and reliability dramatically, there's been very little advance in the materials and applications used in highway construction and maintenance. The product used is the same now as it has always been. 

Doesn't it seem odd that while cars have developed to the point where people actually have come to expect them to drive themselves, the roads that they drive on have developed not at all?