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from the who's-gonna-drive-miss-daisy? dept.
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: 5, Insightful) by Lunix Nutcase on Wednesday December 16 2015, @02:43PM
Self-driving cars promise to create a new kind of leisure
Bullshit. You'll just be required by your employer to work more since you'll have more free hours in the day.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday December 16 2015, @03:12PM
... whenever she visited Europe, as she was a high-power corporate attorney. Cutting down on the time aboard passenger jets gave her more time to work.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Wednesday December 16 2015, @07:22PM
You have a point when it comes to working AT home though. My wife has the capability to work from home and she's expected to to make up for lost time on weekends or during snow storms when the cities pretty well shutdown. I briefly had the ability to work from home before our IT group locked everything down and started getting super strict on VPN access, which I was pissed about in the beginning. Now I just smile and wave to my wife through the window while I build snowmen with my daughter.
Just because you have more free time on the way to work doesn't mean you'll have more time at work. You still need the time to move from your house to your office if you work in a secure environment. Driverless cars aren't likely to make that much faster, they'll just make it safer.
Although you could argue you might spend less time in traffic if there are fewer accidents on the way to work everyday.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe