The race to bring driverless cars to the masses is only just beginning, but already it is a fight for the ages. The competition is fierce, secretive, and elite. It pits Apple against Google against Tesla against Uber: all titans of Silicon Valley, in many ways as enigmatic as they are revered.
As these technology giants zero in on the car industry, global automakers are being forced to dramatically rethink what it means to build a vehicle for the first time in a century. Aspects of this race evoke several pivotal moments in technological history: the construction of railroads, the dawn of electric light, the birth of the automobile, the beginning of aviation. There's no precedent for what engineers are trying to build now, and no single blueprint for how to build it.
Self-driving cars promise to create a new kind of leisure, offering passengers additional time for reading books, writing email, knitting, practicing an instrument, cracking open a beer, taking a catnap, and any number of other diversions. Peope who are unable to drive themselves could experience a new kind of independence. And self-driving cars could re-contextualize land-use on massive scales. In this imagined mobility utopia, drone trucks would haul packages across the country and no human would have to circle a city block in search of a parking spot.
If self-driving vehicles deliver on their promises, they will save millions of lives over the course of a few decades, destroy and create entire industries, and fundamentally change the human relationship with space and time. All of which is why some of the planet's most valuable companies are pouring billions of dollars into the effort to build driverless cars.
After automation puts everyone out of work, will anyone need to drive anywhere anymore?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 16 2015, @02:16PM
i look forward to setting up a table and chair in the middle of the freeway and sipping tea as a thousand robot cars wait patiently for me to move.
(Score: 5, Touché) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday December 16 2015, @02:45PM
What's stopping you from trying that now?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 16 2015, @07:26PM
Humans are terribly impatient. Especially at tea time whilst still on the motorway.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by quacking duck on Wednesday December 16 2015, @09:28PM
Knowing that he'll probably be hit by a texting/distracted driver who doesn't pay enough attention to the road to see him until it's too late?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 16 2015, @04:31PM
Well, the robot cars may be patient. The people inside will not be. And you should always remember that those cars have doors, and the people inside the cars can leave the cars through the doors. And when they do, I can assure you they'll not let you sip the rest of your tea.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday December 16 2015, @06:15PM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 16 2015, @06:52PM
And what happens when there is a painting held up on the road showing a tree or a car crash?
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday December 16 2015, @10:14PM
It'll be detected as a flat surface by the car's LIDAR or 3D cameras, probably with much greater accuracy than human binocular vision. Next question?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 16 2015, @10:45PM
If you try that in my country, you'll not have time to finish your cup before someone gets out and punches you in the face. We put up with anything, unless it blocks traffic.