Staying the Course

The roll-out of self-driving vehicles will continue to feel slow. Reminiscent of another enabling technology, electricity took 30 years to roll-out to 70% of US households. Self-driving technology will be available to you only when it’s ready. But, even though you may not have access to self-driving vehicles today, it does not mean that the roll-out isn’t happening.

The roll-out of self-driving vehicles will continue to be controversial. Automation is a divisive topic, as demonstrated by US Presidential candidates making it a key focus of the 2020 election cycle. Like all significant transitions, there will be some that resist the roll-out of self-driving technology over the coming decades. This is a natural cycle that will one day pass, as self-driving technology moves from theoretical potential to proven benefit. Once we, the industry, prove we can prevent accidents, reduce costs, and increase access to transportation to those who don’t have it, the resistance will fall. Like seat-belts and airbags before it, fully self-driving technology is here to stay.

There will be stumbles along the way. Rightfully so, there will be increased media and regulatory scrutiny involving every incident or accident involving a self-driving vehicle. With a camera in every pocket, videos of any imperfection within this technology will be shared around the world in an instant. This is only to be expected for such a radical shift, and I know at Voyage we will embrace and thrive under this pressure. There will likely be companies who abuse their responsibility to deploy this technology responsibly, making short-term decisions that may compromise safety. As an industry, we must band together to reject this behavior.

Even with the coming storms, we must stay the course. Fully self-driving technology is right. Humans are not the right solution for driving multi-ton steel boxes. We get drunk, tired, angry, and distracted. Although there is an ever-increasing amount of safety technology integrated within modern vehicles today, the US road fatality rate is not decreasing with enough substance. I have a 5-year old daughter. No one should ever have to fear if their loved ones will return safely from a trip to dance class, yet today car crashes are the leading cause of death for US children. Fully self-driving technology is necessary.