Found this article today about Google’s new driverless prototype car, a tiny little thing capable of seating two and intended to be used as a constant motion “taxi”:
For those too lazy to click the link, here’s a little video (a perhaps too sugary one) of the new prototype:
I’ve been increasingly curious about Google’s work in the field of driverless cars, and have come to the conclusion that they’re about to create something that will indeed revolutionize the world…at least the moment this technology is given the OK and is put into (ahem) motion.
Imagine: Thanks to this particular technology, there may come a time people no longer will you have to actually own a car.
If you live in the city, you initiate an app on your smartphone/tablet/whathaveyou and it will signal your driverless vehicle to come pick you up wherever you are. You get into said vehicle (there could be hundreds of them buzzing around a city at any time), indicate where you want to go, then charge the ride on another app and sit back and read/watch/listen to whatever you have while the vehicle takes you to your destination.
True, you can do this with a taxi today, but this can be quite expensive. With these light, probably very fuel efficient mini-vehicles which have no driver to pay, I’m guessing the ride will wind up being quite cheap. If it costs in the neighborhood of the price of riding a bus, only you will get right to your destination and you don’t have to share your ride with anyone you don’t want to, then what’s not to love?
Once you reach your destination and get out of the vehicle, it will find the next closest “client” and continue its unending trip, person to person and place to place.
Amazing.
And scary.
Think about this, too: This technology will clearly impact the taxi and public transportation business. Taxis as we know them may go the way of the blacksmith. And, as this technology is more refined, what happens to other professional drivers? Could this technology not be used on transport trucks? Will there be a time the big rigs we see out there are driven by…no one? What of the auto insurance industry? If there comes a time when driverless cars are the norm and fewer and fewer people actually own their own car and instead use these mini-cars, what becomes of all the people in that particular business? Should we care?
Computer technology has had a staggering effect on society and the economy. We no longer have record stores and it looks like book stores may be a thing of the past as well. In fact, we buy more and more merchandise online each day. Now, with the very real possibility that driverless car technology is in our very near future, other changes are inevitable.
Stay tuned.