For several years we have been talking and discussing autonomous or self-driving vehicles. But yet we don’t see them on the roads. It doesn’t mean there is not any possibilities in this space, developments in this industry are happening with every passing time. From Tesla to Google to Uber to all the major auto manufacturers, autonomous driving is still high on their agenda and are making tremendous strides and efforts to bring autonomous cars into our daily lives.

Recently, the agreement between Volkswagen and Ford to work together, and the joint venture of Daimler and BMW for the joint development of computer-controlled cars showed the progress in self-driving.

Not only carmakers, tech giants like Google, mobile companies and several startups are also working on the autonomous car. The Swedish startup Einride, for example, was the first to send a fully autonomous electric truck on to the road earlier this year. The DB Schenker’s electric truck, T-Pod that runs between two warehouses in Jönköping for delivering goods, moving without a driver and doesn’t even have a driver seat. The vehicle, approved by Sweden’s Transport Authority in March 2019, is able to drive following the country’s traffic rules. But even T-Pod has done a flawless job so far, fully-driverless technology is still at an advanced testing stage.

When we will see Driverless Cars on the Roads?

The automotive industry already has made rapid advances in self-driving and test vehicles are already on the move across the globe. Though it is presently unthinkable that self-driving cars plow the roads on their own without special permits, as highly automated driving vehicles, or piloted driving vehicles have been permitted in Germany since 2017.

Here’s a question when can we see driverless cars on the roads? Researchers at the Prognos research institute acknowledged four major impediments in their study of autonomous driving, including legal aspects, technological maturity, the inertia of the fleet and infrastructure development.

Despite this, self-driving technology is relishing heavy investment worldwide, especially in the UK. 4 years back in 2015, the government announced new laws for testing driverless vehicles on the roads and, with them, an unprecedented £20 million investment into the technology. With so much investment and interest in driverless technology, it is easy to consider that autonomous cars are imminent soon.

According to the Prognos research report, nearly half of all vehicles will have an automation function by 2050. However, in most cases, this will only be usable on motorways. The share of new vehicles, where the driver can completely free from the task of driving on all motorways, will grow to 70% in 2050 from 2.4% in 2020.

Recent Developments

Earlier this month, Alphabet’s self-driving company Waymo received clearance by the California Public Utilities Commission to take part in the state’s autonomous vehicle passenger service pilot program to pick up passengers in self-driving cars. With this permit, Waymo became the fourth company to participate in the pilot program, following Zoox, Autox Technologies, and Pony.ai.

Recently, automakers Ford and Volkswagen announced their plan to expand their 7-month-old alliance to include autonomous and electric vehicles. As part of the announcement, Volkswagen will invest a sum of $2.6 billion in Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle startup based in Pittsburgh. And, Tech giant Apple acquired autonomous driving startup Drive.ai just days before it would get closed.

However, before coming and running self-driving vehicles on the roads, automakers must address a wide range of technical and ethical challenges that could impede the market growth of this industry in the future.