For the life of me, I can’t understand why normally rational car-lovers have started acting as if one of the main supporting pillars of their life’s enjoyment is being wantonly removed, just because our government has had the foresight and good sense to configure our laws to welcome driverless cars.
The usual argument against driverless cars strikes me as being so simple that it could really only be entertained by simpletons: opponents say driverless cars will remove both the satisfaction of car ownership, and the enjoyment of driving. This must be nonsense.
According to those who have already begun designing driverless cars, there are two broad types of driverless cars. First is the near-conventional vehicle that has most of the usual controls, but an electronic control system as well.
At certain times, on certain roads, it can proceed without help from the driver (avoiding collisions and speeding fines, and obeying every red light) but it comes under normal driver command on smaller, less trafficked roads.
The second type is a highly automated, pod-like vehicle – some years further away – that plays the part of a tiny, personalised bus. It has no driving controls at all, presenting itself at your front door and conveying you automatically wherever you want to go, without intervention.
The former, which the user might own the same way he or she owns cars at present, will go right on being appreciated for its shape, interior design, refinement, comfort and all the things we appreciate in cars at present.
And why not? Only the boring part of travel will be removed, and most drivers will welcome that, knowing that travel in dense traffic wouldn’t need the concentration demanded at present.
The second will not be so much a car as a curiosity and a convenience. It certainly won’t stop someone who loves cars from having a Corvette or a Caterham in the garage. And even if it’s fully automated, it will still be capable of being appreciated for good design and efficient functionality.
What sells the whole driverless cars concept to me is a simple fact I heard some wise person utter years ago, when I was mindlessly bewailing the overthrow of some “freedom” other. When television was invented, I was sternly reminded, radio didn’t disappear. It just changed a bit.
Exactly the same thing will happen with cars and driving. We’ll still be able to enjoy cars as we do now, but a lot of uninterested, possibly incompetent car operators will be removed from the melee and conveyed automatically. Instead, they will be transported by the most efficient and accident-free possible means.
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Crossbow
No thanks Steve
Screw that.
The solution is simple: offer both!