What exactly will be required to smooth the transition from humans driving vehicles to the latest technology and the arrival of autonomous vehicles?This came into question hot on the heels of November’s International Driver-less Cars convention in South Australia, a month that additionally saw the ACT offer up its streets for Volvo to trial a kangaroo-detection system for autonomous vehicles.
Rakotonirainy’s QUT associate, robotics professor Jonathan Roberts, says the most straightforward thing to do amid a transitional period, from an innovative stance, would be for a government to give five years notice that all autos on the road must be automated, but concedes there is more likely a few decade long process in which self-driving vehicles will be able to safely share the streets with human drivers. That situation makes the job of developing driver-less autos all the more troublesome, as the software coordinating the auto must be advanced enough to account for unpredictable human behavior.
“Uber has already hired dozens, if not hundreds, of robotics researchers,” Roberts says. “They are clearly serious and aren’t thinking 20 or 30 years ahead, but autonomous taxis in the next 10 years.”
Roberts says the interest in the World Science Festival events reinforced his belief the demand is there for driverless car technology. “The World Science Festival showed that a lot of people want this technology as it will make their lives easier – there’s a big pull from the community,” he said.
It sounds like with all the technological innovation, there won’t be any need for human driven cars within the next few decades. If it’s true, the time is now to buy your favorite car when it is still normal for humans still be driving cars themselves. When you’re ready to buy, with Thrifty Auto Shipping can handle all your car shipping needs!
