Quote:
Originally Posted by Red-86
One thing to bear in mind is that the purchasing power and infrastructure to implement fully autonomous vehicles around the entire world is likely much further away than the leading edge of the tech in select wealthy countries. IOW, even if Tesla and others develop fully autonomous vehices fairly rapidly, most of the millions of new cars sold around the world each year will continue to be human operated for basic economic and logistical reasons. And even after the majority of new vehicles sold in, say, the USA or EU are fully autonomous, it may be a few more decades after that before the same is true throughout developing countries.
IOW, I think the autonomous vehicle revolution will be a very slow burn, rather than a rapid changeover. And that suits me fine - I enjoy driving, even if it is just a trip to the shops. Admittedly, it’s mostly fun because I prefer sportscars. If I could only drive boring SUV people movers, then it loses some of the appeal.
|
Basic economic and logistical reasons could be the very reason we move to autonomous driving faster.
Society might see a greater cost savings to go autonomous. Healthcare costs could go down from fewer accidents. Insurance rates could drop. Damage to streets, trees, poles, etc would go down. People would be more productive instead of living with long term disabilities. Less people would need to be prosecuted for DUIs. Police duties would decline.
Most people would love to commute to work or home with the ability to nap, to talk to family, or to catch up on social media, work, emails, etc, and now they would. Businesses could benefit from not having to pay truckers and from running the trucks more often. Deliveries of all types could arrive in super small cars (smaller than Smart cars or old Minis). Taxis could be summoned and cheaper.
Cars could be made without steering wheels, without traditional readouts and without pedals. Cars could be constructed with completely different shapes and interiors like seats that don't face forward.
The technology would be very disruptive.