Driverless cars are driving towards less problems. Mercedes, Audi, Ford and Google are all racing towards making driverless cars a finalized reality, with an estimation that they will be on our streets by 2017 and could help both social and industrial spectrum. They will be driven by computers and by 2025 it has been predicted they could be a global omnipresence.

HSBC stated that driverless cars will be a widespread invention that could revolutionize mobility for individuals. It will enable the elderly to drive, increase fuel efficiency and implement a zero accidents scheme.

The potential for a great reduction of accidents, will ultimately cut insurance costs. According to Eurostat statistics, the largest number of transport incidents happen on the road.

The scale of saving fuel will be huge. It will be more effective than public transport and the avoidance of traffic will not only save fuel, but speed up traffic.

The elderly will continue to travel and remain mobile, when they are no longer able to drive and inexperienced drivers, primarily the young, will not be secluded from driving because of “crippling initial insurance costs.”

However, there are some negatives of driveless cars for the transportation industry. Taxi and bus companies, railroads and short-journey airlines will feel a hit, which could damage them enough to become extinct. The driverless car will offer people more convenience and comfort, so that other options of transportation become outweighed and ignored.

Although driverless cars are ultimately driving for less problems, their focus is on a more universal magnitude. Hotels and other small-scale businesses could also feel the effects of the cars. Overnight travelling will become more available. Pit-stops will no longer be needed if people are able to sleep in their car, while it continues towards the anticipated destination.

Companies that will see a large positive correlation between products sold and the accumulation of driverless cars on the road, will be software sellers.

The top four in-car gadgets that everyone will want are: Starlight headlining (mood lighting), onboard computers, backseat and front-seat TV’s, and a great audio system.

Radio and recorded music businesses will also lose audiences in this futuristic world transporting to our future. Highway speed limits will be raised when the driverless car proves that it can implement a zero accident plan and reduce travel times.

Reports have stated that the driverless cars, although a novelty, is not to be seen as just a toy and that the social and economic implications are enormous. The estimation for the autonomous cars contribution to savings, could amount to $1.3 trillion in the U.S economy alone, with global savings reaching above $5.6 trillion.

The car computerization is set to prove its efficiency. Volvo have proclaimed they will introduce 100 driverless cars on to public roads in 2017, as part of the world’s first large-scale autonomous driving pilot. However, it has been said that Mercedes are currently in the lead with manufacturing autonomous cars.

Driverless cars, although they seem preposterous, are driving towards a future with less problems. With fuel reserves running out daily, fuel efficiency will be one of the main benefits; and with the amount of deaths caused each year by road accidents, limiting this to a number of zero, will also be highly beneficial. Although some may suffer, the greater good that could come from driverless cars has the potential to be huge.

By Melissa McDoald

Opinion/Commenatry

Source

Inauto

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