DIGITAL DRIVING
SMART CARS
Ruwandi Perera delves deeper into the future of the self-driving automobile
Does the thought of traffic give you nightmares? Do you dread the snail-paced morning and evening commute between home and office? And do you wish you could have a driver to chauffer you around and take care of parking while you lord it over in the backseat?
No, I’m not talking about Uber; rather, about the advent of the self-driving car, which in simple terms is a (car) robot that requires no human interference.
The idea may sound preposterous and unimaginable but Uber is already testing autonomous cars in the US with ‘real passengers’ in them. And although there’s still a human driver behind the wheel to take over if need be, people are travelling from point A to B in self-driven cars.
Does that sound scary or tempting? To let go of the wheel, clutch, brakes and gears, and immerse yourself in social media on the mobile phone (without being copped, mind you!) sounds surreally alluring, right?
Since the first motorcar was invented by the German Karl Benz in 1885, car manufacturers have constantly rolled out one impressive set of wheels after another. Be it the Megacar launched by Swedish high-performance sports-car manufacturer Koenigsegg Automotive or the Rolls-Royce Ghost Elegance painted with 1,000 crushed diamonds, the motorcar has always dazzled us.
Today, we have cars that run purely on electricity with no carbon emissions. And we now have cars with a full set of movie-theatre-entertainment options – but only to be enjoyed by passengers. Today’s cars integrate smartphones into their systems so that you can enjoy all your phone’s functionalities without even touching the device. And there are even cars that monitor your heart rate and pressure to ensure that the traffic doesn’t excite you too much!
Autonomous cars will produce mixed reactions from people. For instance, die-hard driving fans who enjoy the feel of all that horsepower will probably reject the idea of being a ‘car potato.’ Others whose one goal is to commute from one point to another will embrace the innovation.
Think about it. Autonomous cars will have a greater impact on the motor market than ride-sharing apps like Uber that have transformed the transport sector. People who own autonomous cars will feel as though they’re employing a driver – except that in this case, it’s an invisible driver who doesn’t need space or a salary.
On the other hand, the idea of self-driven cars will lead to people not wanting to own a motor vehicle – they can hail a human-less cab anytime of the day and not worry about insurance, maintenance, car care or safety (of the car and the human being driving it).
Known to come up with crazy-yet-cool inventions such as the Black Big Mac, Japan offers its citizens and tourists a new restaurant concept – UberEATS.
Thanks to a partnership between Volvo and Uber, you can now tour Tokyo while comfortably seated in the back of a Volvo XC90 and enjoy a scrumptious menu curated by Iron Chef Yukio Hattori that includes gourmet delights from some of the city’s best restaurants. And champagne is included!
Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?
Now think of it without the gawking driver seated in the front… sheer bliss!
Being driven around in a self-driven car produces many benefits. While autonomous cars won’t completely ease traffic congestion, you can get some productive work done while being stuck on the road.
And you can eat, drink (yes, even alcohol!), read, browse, play games, pet your dog, have a meeting with an office colleague, go on a date, do your make-up and nails before reaching that party, complete your prep work before attending that seminar, and even change into shorts and running shoes if you’re heading over to the gym after work.
There is also a flipside to having our roads filled with autonomous cars (yes, they will be around in the next 10-15 years), which involves the impact on businesses that are fully dependent on the motor industry.
Collision repair businesses could go bankrupt because self-driving cars use location-based information and track the movements of other vehicles (and they may also be autonomous) so as not to collide with them. Such an accident-free system will also make people realise that they don’t need costly car insurance anymore.
With many autonomous cars being electric vehicles, we may also bid adieu to petrol stations and oil companies. Agencies that provide drivers and chauffeurs will also be affected since robots are likely to be more efficient than their human counterparts.
Self-driving smart cars will do to the automobile industry what the internet did to books and libraries – not completely wipe it out but transform it into a new business model.
What’s more, riding in a self-driven car means an end to those dreaded speeding tickets. Now that’s something to smile about!
This would make it possible even for a person below 18 years of age to travel alone in an auto car. Isn’t that great news!
The pressure of driving concentration that is supposed to be eased off will probably create a vacant capacity in the human brain. Seemingly, the human mind requires smart thinking as to how self-driven cars should be used in the best interest of personal and social lives/relationships.
Like individual mobile phones, the concept of transport will be influenced by individualism. Unlike owning a car for the family, now these driverless cars will tempt people towards individual ownership. For example, senior citizen parents would not now depend on their adult children to drop/pick them for doctor’s visits or social functions; rather they will manage themselves in a driverless car. Thus, this breakthrough concept resembles mixed consequences and altered expectations; people being distanced as well as being much closer can both occur. Responsibilities can still be shared or people may be left to fend for oneself.
Think ahead. Count your blessings before you enjoy that amazing drive.
Several service providers are bound to be obsolete, assuming the digital driving car concept becomes economical for a rational citizen.
In the private transportation sector, school service providers will find it hard to find business, as parents would now drop their children to school themselves with the help of digital driving. Similarly, clients of office transport services will also have one of the best options. They will be choosing automatic cars, lured by the benefits of safety, privacy and convenience.
Still, industries such as emergency ambulance services, food and beverage, delivery services and healthcare services will stand a chance of survival in this transformation. Then, how about the entertainment and leisure sectors – for luxury limousines? It seems that auto cars can easily be a semi luxury competitor for luxury limousines.
Heavy investments, over dependence on one or few business lines, strong assumptions for forecasting can be daunting, in times when digital driving is about to make a debut.
As Ruwandi has so compellingly illustrated, autonomous or self-driven cars are no longer considered to be in the realm of science fiction. Reportedly, Volvo is going to roll out their first self-driven vehicle for the public roads by around 2020. The much talked about Tesla Model S already has autonomous driving mode as a standard feature. Although its reliability has been called into question, Tesla should be credited for their bold vision in taking this historic stride inspiring the other automakers to emulate them. It’s on the cards that they’ll follow suit sooner rather than later.
It goes without saying, however, that this technology has the potential to disrupt and transform quite a few established industries as Ruwandi has pointed out. This will entail significant economic consequences for the players in the disrupted industries. While total elimination of human error factor is a piece of good news, regulators should make it absolutely sure that this technology is thoroughly tested well before it’s allowed out on the public roads.
A potential downside to self-driven vehicles is that they can easily blunt our physical and cognitive skills by practically mechanizing our reasoning and decision making faculties. A prime example of this phenomenon is that some of us totally bank on Google maps to drive to different without making the tiniest effort to remember the roads. So we can’t afford to ignore the obvious fact that for all the benefits they promise, some inventions could seriously weaken our physical and cognitive skills that a long process of evolution has endowed us with. Whether we manage the technology or whether we let technology manage us completely remains the million dollar question as we stand at these crossroads.
Sounds like a brilliant and novel concept, making our lives easier and hassle-free. At the onset, as riders, we can truly appreciate and feel the safety, convenience and saving of insurance costs. Stress free driving and travelling/moving are miracles becoming true.
Concurrently, an average person cannot help thinking of many possible pros and cons. One disadvantage (among all other benefits) which strikes our mind is that if we all want to own automatic cars, how the traffic congestion would be. You need not worry about traffic jams, and burning fuel; but some countries like us with densely populated towns may be unable to cope. Finally, the passenger too is helpless. On the flip side, it is not surprising, since after all, every innovation needs and undergoes destruction before it hits the next phase of innovation.
So why not be privy and enjoy automatic cars until this time.