But I like driving almost as much as I like speeding, oh darn! it's not fair!
10:59 PM
Researchers have been working on self-driving automobiles for a good twenty years. By now, many people probably think their cars will never drive themselves. Those people are wrong.
The military wants self-driving vehicles badly and when the military wants something badly enough, they find a way to get it. Which brings us to the DARPA Grand Challenge, a competition to build a vehicle which can handle long-range driving over some very difficult and varied terrain.
The best performer of last year's Challenge only managed slightly more than 7 miles of the 175 mile course. This year, that team has a good shot at completing the challenge. Check out Autonomous robot drives 200 miles. Based on their improvement, even if no team wins this year, next year a victory is practically guaranteed.
Once autonomous vehicles are perfected for military use, whichever company manufactures them will want to expand into the civilian market, and your driveway. I expect that by 2050, it will be illegal to manually drive a vehicle on a public roadway. Driver's licenses will be a thing of the past. As will speeding tickets and DUI's. Your car insurance will be based solely on the value of your car, since you will never drive it.
"No More Driver's Licenses"
1 Comment -
But I like driving almost as much as I like speeding, oh darn! it's not fair!
10:59 PM