Autonomous vehicles how this future is real

BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Tesla, Uber and Amazon are testing prototypes of driver-less cars and trucks, known in the industry as autonomous vehicles (AV). If they pass safety tests and go into mass production, how will that change our cities?

Earlier this month, Russian technology giant Yandex announced plans to spin off its autonomous vehicle division into a separate company as well as to invest an additional $ 150 million. Yandex, which works with Hyundai, is just one of many car companies and technology companies looking to reach the Holy Grail: to design a driver-less car that would be so safe that it could be allowed on all the roads of the world’s cities. The people in the 2050's might look at people who would drive cars as irresponsible, as we look at people who drive while intoxicated today. "One of the big social changes related to traffic, which we will eventually see, will be the public perception that every man who drives a car is dangerous and irresponsible, but we are at least two to three decades away from such a change,"

It is unlikely that we will see cars in cities by the end of 2020 that will go without drivers. The reason for this is a series of technical and legal challenges that need to be overcome first. Adoption on the world stage will not happen a few years after that, because of social and political resistance, especially in the United States. He said countries with more centralized governments and newer “relevant infrastructure” could see AV “in practice” by the US and Britain. In May 2016, Joshua Brown, 40, became known for the first death in a driver-less car; when his Tesla Model S collided with a truck on the Ohio highway while on “autopilot”. A report by the National Transportation Safety Board says the Autopilot system is partly to blame for the crash. Two years later, ElaineHerzberg, 49, became the first cyclist to be killed by a driverless car when a Tesla Uber test vehicle crashed into her in Arizona. There have been several other accidents involving automatic vehicles. Because of these accidents, nowhere in the world are legislators yet willing to allow the use of fully autonomous cars, trucks or buses on the roads.

Safety is key and when automatic vehicles are superior to human drivers, lawmakers will speed up the passage of the law, which will help companies start mass-producing such cars. When driver-less cars become a reality on our streets, it will transform our cities. For starters, far fewer people will own their own cars. He continued: “The prevailing ownership model is very likely to change, while car fleets and subscription models will lead to the elimination of car ownership, especially in cities. Private ownership of higher models will continue for wealthier individuals. Big companies will manage their own models. ” But traffic jams will not go away overnight, even if fewer people will have their own cars, and if more people use services like Uber.

It was difficult to predict the level of traffic congestion, but added: “Based on several studies, increased congestion is a significant concern. This will vary considerably depending on the details of the configuration, capacity and use of a particular city. Congestion will worsen if subscription models result in disincentives to mass traffic. Demand for a parking space should fall sharply, but significant investments will need to be made in the design and construction of loading and unloading zones, both in businesses and in public spaces, in order for traffic to continue. New building projects should, after the adoption of the autonomous vehicle project, contain plans for the transition of the parking space to alternative purposes. There will be a gradual decline in the need for large multi-store car parks as well as shopping center car parks. This will be a special boon for those cities that have limited parking spaces. In cities like London, New York, Paris and Tokyo, parking lots could be leveled and replaced with parks, walkways or, more likely, larger apartments. We will still need streets, of course, although there may be new sensors and other smart technology on them, to support the implementation of new vehicles."

There will be other changes in the suburban landscape, some of which are already underway. When houses were built in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, it was considered crucial to have a garage, in which you would park your car overnight. But nowadays, cars are much harder to steal, and much easier to start them on cold, winter mornings. “Garages are already becoming less important in some urban areas. Access roads can be reconfigured to facilitate better traffic from homes to jobs. Internal combustion engines will still be in demand for certain needs, such as long-distance transport. Fast filling stations will eventually replace a large proportion of petrol stations. The stations will be used for dual use during the transition to autonomous vehicles, thus reducing interference. Some countries may use battery replacement stations, but that remains to be seen.