Remember back when you were a kid and you would read about the not-so-distant future? I remember comic books that had cars that drove themselves. I remember thinking that would be amazing! Well, as the technology has gotten better, that has now become a reality! California, Florida and Nevada have all passed legislation to allow driverless cars to hit the road. Google has been testing a driverless car for years and it has driven over 500,000 miles without an accident! That is a great statistic when you consider most drivers have a significant accident every 200,000-300,000 miles.
Driverless cars have thousands of sensors in the car and also use satellite guidance systems to navigate our busy streets. Just imagine the impact it could have on our drunk driving statistics. You could go into a bar and have a few too many, then safely make it home WITHOUT having to depend on someone else to drive you. Not only is it safer for you, it’s also safer for the innocent bystanders who happen to be on the road when you are.
Driverless cars also address another growing problem: elderly drivers. We are all going to be forced to make a decision to take away our parents driver’s license one day. With the advent of a car with no driver, the elderly will be able to go to the grocery store and wherever they wish to go!
There are plenty of legal problems to get through before we will start seeing them on our streets though. For example, who is at fault when there is an accident? The passenger? The owner? Will there always have to be a driver in the car who can take over in emergency situation? What are the age restrictions for riding alone in the car?
What do you think of driverless cars? Would you buy one?