Hasme Rafsan Jani
The most talked about and innovative technology on the horizon is probably self-driving cars. These driverless cars are going to replace the traditional mode of transport as we know it. The benefits are endless. For starters drivers will no longer get speeding tickets as there will be no drivers to begin with. People do not need to waste their time constantly paying attention to the road, instead they can spend that time eating, reading a book or spending time with their families. Although the fun that driving sometimes generates will be gone, on the other end there won’t be any diving skill gap, no frustration from other inexperienced drivers nor any chances of accidents. People will no longer need to worry about drunk teenagers or anybody driving under the influence. There will essentially be no money wasted on car insurance. Gas efficiency will be at its optimum all the time which is great for the environment. A large chunk of the work force like taxi drivers, truck drivers, shipment drivers and policing will be diverted to other areas. There will also be no age gap as youngsters can travel without knowing how to drive and old people with reduced vision can get to places without assistance.
Major companies like Google and other automobile companies are driving this technology for it come to existence pretty soon and even as soon as 2020 or 2022. Google is lobbying for and succeeded for self-driving cars in states like Nevada which may be the first state to get self-driving cars. These projects started in 2009 and have undergone and continue to go through a lot of testing to perfect this technology to make them safe and prevent from malfunction, hacking and other factors as the consequences can be deadly and these companies want to manage this innovation right so that it succeeds economically and not just end up being a failed attempt.
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Markoff, J. (2017). Google Lobbies Nevada to Allow Self-Driving Cars. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/science/11drive.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 [Accessed 19 Jul. 2017].