Imagine a world without pollution, without traffic noise, without smog, without traffic snarls, without being in a hurry to attend a meeting, having time for all the positive things in life, quite literally without any tension. Though not so simple, it is possible to achieve this with the aid of driverless electric cars which is the first step in revolutionizing urban transportation. Make no mistake, driverless cars are the future and we may be living in medieval times in terms of the development of motorized transport.
It’s not only a few individuals like Elon Musk who have staked their money and reputation on this business but, every major car manufacturer is on this bandwagon. In fact, the fierce competition among Apple, Google besides the regular car manufacturers is making deep inroads into new technologies like batteries, lightweight and stronger materials etc.
Human drivers can have bad days and if we examine statistics, a large percentage of accidents are due to various human errors like drunken driving, fatigue, and malfunctions in the car. Electric driver-less cars have fewer parts compared to the standard petrol/diesel engines and are hence more reliable. With newer technologies, the battery which is a major component of the driver-less electric cars is going through intense technological changes making it lighter, last longer and be more reliable.
No longer is research into newer technologies restricted to car companies but, heavyweights from other fields have entered into this rat race and hopefully there will be a blend of technologies from the electronics and conventional car technologies , leading to a safe and reliable transport system.
The newer companies like Tesla, Apple and Google are not only putting pressure on each other but, also on traditional carmakers like Audi and Ford to invest in their capabilities.
General Motors is in partnership with cab company Lyft to develop a fleet of self-driving taxis. If Lyft is successful then Uber cannot be far behind.
Driverless drones may ultimately bring greater efficiency, speed and safety to transportation.
There may be an awkward decade when both the conventionally driven car may have to co-exist with driverless drones, which is sure to cause some problems but, that is something which we are sure of solving as technology cannot be stopped and the way forward is clear. What is interesting is the way driverless cars will transform urban spaces and the routes between them as currently; road design is done with the intention of reducing the risk due to bad human decisions.
For the last century, car design has been entirely built around one person with feet on the pedals and hands on the steering wheel, besides having all the controls within easy reach.
But in the new scenario, everything from the layout to the seating would be re-organized. A driverless vehicle may have people facing each other with a table between them to be used as work spaces as it is a given that, Wi-Fi would be introduced in vehicles shortly. If you don’t want chairs, it could also be configured as sleepers, which is the way for inter-city transportation.
Once you get used to the fact that driving is no longer your job involving a lot of tension then, it increases your leisure time in multiple ways. Entire meetings could be complete during transit from one office to the other. A whole new scenario with infinite possibilities opens up.
I won’t be surprised that in the not-so-distant future, humans driving cars may be banned.