Safety has been a big driver of the self-driving movement from the beginning. Last Friday NPR reported that lives will be saved when driverless cars become commercially available.
Most accidents are caused by human error, which is why (according to Bob Lutz) "In 15 to 20 years — at the latest — human-driven vehicles will be legislated off the highways." It will be illegal to drive a car down the highway. How will we travel then? 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.
"On the freeway, it will merge seamlessly into a stream of other modules traveling at 120, 150 mph. The speed doesn't matter. You have a blending of rail-type with individual transportation.
"Then, as you approach your exit, your module will enter deceleration lanes, exit and go to your final destination. You will be billed for the transportation. You will enter your credit card number or your thumbprint or whatever it will be then. The module will take off and go to its collection point, ready for the next person to call."
From this article
(cont'd tomorrow - end of performance cars?)
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