RE: ADSactly Tech News - The Cars of the Future That Drive Themselves and Navigate Blue Skies!
Well. I think the older folks are going to power the self driving car revolution. I hope I have 10 good years of driving left (at least) and the idea of staying in my own home till the last possible minute includes a car that can drive when I can't. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on this.
I followed two 'autonomous vehicles' when I was in Las Vegas last month. One was a shuttle bus that was unbelievably slow in traffic. The other was a Lyft branded BMW that I followed quite a ways on the strip. It didn't hold me up much, and it was easy for me to tuck right in behind.
There were two women in the Lyft vehicle, chatting away. One was behind the wheel but talking with both hands. It was a pretty cool 'hands off' demonstration to me.
Oh, and I saw one of the full tilt Google mapping vans at three separate locations when I was in Minot, North Dakota. If they are full mapping Minot they are close to being fully mapped in every city. I'm just sayin'
Let me weigh in on these points here :
I'd agree that the older folks will be strongly in support of it, the fact that they have all the money and hold the power when it comes to corporations and government doesn't really make it fair for the younger generations who still have the ability and desire to drive themselves. Good point.
I've written off technology in the past only to see it dwarf the potential of older iterations and become truly unbelievable. Look at today's smartphone and consider it was only 20 years ago when people were still using Sony Walkmans!
Absolutely, it is getting to the point where it warrents real discussion. Points made below about this driverless car revolution not becoming a serious threat to those that would like to avoid it are complete nonsense. We are not far away from having to take a stand on this topic and based on your points I'd say it is approaching quickly.
I don't like painting things as black or white, this topic clearly has many shades of grey. Will this driverless car reality be good for old folks, possibly... Is it going to reduce fatalities on the road, probably not at first, it will most likely cause more as they work out the bugs. Should we worry about how this may impinge upon our freedom of movement, absolutely!
Thanks for weighing in as always @bigtom13. Take care.