You won’t need a driver’s license by 2040
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/18/tech/innovation/ieee-2040-cars/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
I long for the day when I no longer need to drive my car. Sure, there is a certain joy in tooling down the open road, but generally the law frowns on my preferred speed and where I live (in the DC metro area), there really aren’t that may clear and open roads anyway. I would cheerfully pay a $10K premium for a driver-less car (certainly _way_ cheaper than hiring a chauffeur!) and I really doubt I am alone. I think success at converting to driver-less will boil down to the number of lawsuits surrounding the inevitable accidents that happen. If the lawsuits are evaluated based on rational decision making, the greatest good for society, etc. (fat chance!) then I see this technology being rapidly adopted and actual driver-ed vehicles becoming a minority rather quickly. Indeed, I see it very plausible that a few accidents caused by humans resulting in the withdrawal of all driver’s licenses and there being nothing _but_ driver-less cars quite quickly. Certainly the most dangerous period will be the transition, though realistically, 30K entirely preventable deaths on the highway screams that we already have a highly dysfunctional system that needs immediate remediation.
Man, the things I could do if I didn’t have to spend so much time driving a car!
