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Bob Lutz, former General Motors Vice Chair, opines:
It saddens me to say it, but we are approaching the end of the automotive era.
The auto industry is on an accelerating change curve. For hundreds of years, the horse was the prime mover of humans and for the past 120 years it has been the automobile.
Now we are approaching the end of the line for the automobile because travel will be in standardized modules.
The end state will be the fully autonomous module with no capability for the driver to exercise command. You will call for it, it will arrive at your location, you'll get in, input your destination and go to the freeway.
...
The vehicles, however, will no longer be driven by humans because in 15 to 20 years — at the latest — human-driven vehicles will be legislated off the highways.The tipping point will come when 20 to 30 percent of vehicles are fully autonomous. Countries will look at the accident statistics and figure out that human drivers are causing 99.9 percent of the accidents.
Is he right? Is the age of the automobile coming to an end?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @02:56AM
I'm old enough to remember "No Speed Limit" signs in California. I remember paying $0.35 per gallon for gas and thinking it was steep. I remember hearing my parents talk about the long Sunday drives they used to take for entertainment and how I thought that was such a stupid idea. Driving for entertainment on a perfectly good Sunday afternoon? Even back in the 60s and 70s driving had become a bit of a chore for a lot of us. Personally, I look forward to the day I get get in a vehicle and order a destination then sit back and relax. If that service existed I'd donate my car to charity right now.
I am skeptical though. Haven't there been a few reports in the past month or two about how the so-called autonomous vehicles are a lot more limited than we're being led to believe?