The very notion that a driverless car would become realised technology after over 100 years of motoring is the stuff of science fiction. But no longer are we constrained by the machinations of sc-fi authors or futuristic fantasy films starring Tom Cruise because driverless cars are now scientific fact. The technology is now so advanced that its not a matter of how it’s a matter of now. For the moment car manufactures have to go through many legislative hurdles before the underlying technology is unleashed for road use. And when it is the technology in terms of sales could rake in billions of extra dollars for all concerned.But when you think about it, autonomous driving is going to change the world that we live in in profound ways. Semi-autonomous vehicles are already here, radar guided cruise control offered by Volvo is able to monitor the distance of the car in front at a set speed determined by the driver. The technology is able to vary the cars speed by accelerating, decelerating or by gently applying the brakes so that the car is kept at a safe distance. You can even get semi-autonomous technology in in in a Skoda.Tesla has hinted that their Model 3, slated for release some time in 2018, will have autonomous functions. That is to say the car will be driven by the computer on a designated route. And practically every other carmaker in the world is investigating the technology. That includes the world’s biggest automaker, Toyota who are usually too stubborn to advance anything other than their corporate bank balance.Because the pace of development is so fast car manufactures are literally racing to the finish line to be the first company to offer fully-automated driving technology to you the consumer. As the technology becomes wide spread production costs will lower so automating a car will be a very inexpensive part of production process. And once the costs fall enough, no car will rely solely on human navigation. There simply won’t be any economic reason to leave autonomy out. It looks like we’re going to see the transition over the next 10 years. Maybe sooner.Of course, driverless cars have profound implications for the way that we will live and work. For starters, they’re going to change the urban landscape in ways that renders it unrecognisable. For decades urban centres have been built around the car. The six lane highways that course towards our city centres. And in those city centres are vast parking lots, traffic signals and street signs. But the driverless car is going to lead to profound changes in the urban environment. For one, it’s unlikely that we will need to sit for hours in traffic before we get to work. Driverless cars that are all connected to each other will be able to optimally plan their routes. We could even imagine a junction in the future where nobody has to give way. Computers on board our cars will be able to calculate the optimal speed through the intersection, buzzing past other cars just feet away. We’re also going to see the end of the parking lot. Cars will either drive themselves home once they’ve dropped us off, or just go on to pick up the next person if we share a car service. This means that our cities could become pedestrian only zones. Autonomous vehicles don’t need to park in centralized hubs near to where people work. Does that mean the basic skill set of actually driving a car will vanish altogether? Maybe, maybe not. But if the age of fully autonomous driving can rid human kind of the angry white van man who always has no where to go fast then we are for a driverless car future. If that means we no longer have to use public transport and face the incessant talking, sneezing, wide eyed starring, yelling, headphone wearing gimbods, coughing, eating, drinking then we welcome a fully autonomous driving future.
The real question is will driverless cars really change the world? Yes if you can afford it as an option extra, but if you can’t then perhaps you should just go back to using the horse and cart era.
