Driverless Cars Will be as Common as Cell Phones.

I remember the first time I heard of a “cell phone” 20 years ago…  “So, you would CARRY around a phone?  Why?” I wondered.  There was a phone in practically every room of my home, and phone booths everywhere.

I had the same type of sensation when I first heard of driverless cars.  Futuristic!  After reading more, now I think driverless cars will be as common in 20 yrs as cell phones are now.

I read a fun article, “Humans Can’t Stop Crashing Into Google’s Driverless Cars.”  The point is that Google has had driverless cars (with a person sitting in the driver’s seat) on the road for 5 years and 700K miles causing no accidents.  However there have been numerous times “drivers” have crashed into the driverless cars.

Here are my predictions for the future of driverless cars:

1. Most people will no longer own a car, scheduling cars as needed with a pickup anywhere within a few minutes. (Sorry Uber/Taxis.)
2. The roads will become less congested, and faster.  Less maintenance; less emissions.
3. You will save $ on an asset that otherwise sat in the garage most of the time and depreciated.
4. The GARAGE will suddenly be additional living or storage space for most people.
5. Since you will pay by the actual mile used, your costs for car insurance, repairs, tires, etc. will stop. (Sorry car insurance.)
6. If you have kids you will no longer be required to drive them to soccer or other locations unless you want to.  Your free time increases.
7. The cars will be safer and sturdier, intended to run almost 24/7 for a million miles.
8. You will have new options to ride in a rented driverless Rolls Royce (pretend you have a chauffeur) or Ferraris (pretend you’re cool) if wanting to arrive in style.
9. Your time to work or play (or sleep) will be increased during the ride instead of driving.
10. Driverless car accidents, injuries, and deaths will stop.  Eventually humans will not be allowed to drive on some or all highways.
11.  Pets will be delivered to and from vet hospitals in a driverless car.

I’m not sure if public transportation will be replaced, or enhanced with the cars dropping you off at the bus station.

We’ll have to wait and see what the $ per mile costs end up.  Probably more for a Rolls.  🙂

Rolan