The Next Best Thing to a Flying Car
Other than flying, what is one aspect of a ‘future car’ that most people would want? Self-driving, of course! In this hypothetical future, we would only have to tell the car where to go, sit back, and enjoy the ride. But is that really just a hypothetical far-off future?
Not if Google gets its way. According to the New York Times, Google is looking to have the first driverless vans or taxis available in 2013 or 2014. The search engine company has been working with car manufacturers for a few years now on autonomous, driverless cars. Several working prototypes have even been test-driving around on some California roads.
When this technology gets the bugs worked out and becomes available on the open market, there will be some major changes in the way driving works. There will not be as many accidents since most accidents occur because of human error. Speed limits and traffic laws will no longer be the ‘suggestions’ most people perceive them to be because the car will be a law-abiding driver.
Nevertheless, there are still some issues with the technology. One of the major problems is that the cars cannot understand a traffic control officer’s motions the way a human can. With motion sensing and recognition software making progress, however, those problems may not last long.
The other problems with mass-producing driverless cars are the legal, insurance, and human reaction issues. Will police officers have the authority to stop an autonomous car? How can companies insure these vehicles? Will a car sit at a stop sign forever because other cars with human drivers do not stop completely? These are all issues that still need to be resolved.
Another possible concern with these hypothetical driverless cars is user error. There are already so many computer repairs needed because someone deleted something they should not have or pushed the wrong button. To think of that happening in an autonomous car while it is driving is appalling. It would cause an accident for sure because driverless cars would not be set up for a human to take over on a moment’s notice.
With these issues to work out, it may be longer than Google hopes before feasible driverless cars are on the road, but it will not be far off. In as little as a year, you may discover the taxi you just got into has no driver. A few years after that, most shipping companies may be using driverless vehicles to transport their products. In twenty years, it is possible that more people have autonomous cars than cars that require a driver!
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