The Future Of Self Driving Cars Explained – Video
For starters, we know that self-driving cars won’t become commonplace overnight. The vast majority of cars on the road now have no automation features or only very limited automation, like cruise control. You can find a few self-driving cars being tested on public roads now if you know where to look. But you won’t likely find many in a dealer showroom for at least 10 years.
Another factor that will further delay the widespread use of autonomous cars is that many people hang on to their cars as long as possible. The number of highly automated cars as a share of everything on the road will grow over time, but only relatively slowly.
In addition, we can be quite confident that autonomous cars will appear on city streets before they make it to the interstate highways. The reasons have more to do with public policy than they do with technology. Local governments are typically more nimble than state and federal agencies, which is one reason why you can find robotic taxis being tested right now on the streets of Pittsburgh, Phoenix and San Francisco.
Interstate highway operations and safety rules are governed by state and federal laws and regulations, which are much more complex. For the most part, self-driving cars will be ready for the open road long before the open road is ready for them.