Self driving vehicles are being crafted in London, and the technology is not coming from Google or a global car manufacturer. As part of the $11.4 million Greenwich Automated Transport Environment (GATEway) project, three British firms, Heathrow Enterprises, Oxbotica and Westfield Sportscars, are joining together to create the cars so that they are safe and function properly. Although the exact design of the vehicles has not been confirmed, they are inspired by the "Ultra PODS", which are the shuttles found at the Heathrow Airport in London. A picture of those shuttles can be seen below.
If these vehicles are held to London's standard, they could be publicly trailed as soon as this summer in Greenwich, London. GATEway plans on running trials that include pedestrians and cyclists. Also, they plan on testing out autonomous valet parking and automated deliveries. They will also take into account things such as insurance and cyber security. If the trials are successful, these vehicles could be seen in many cities around the world.
It's interesting to see that these futuristic self driving vehicles are actually becoming a reality sooner than we may think. It will also be interesting to see a new sector of the automobile market competing in the not-so-distant future, and seeing how current car manufacturers adapt. I would expect that some manufacturers such as Audi, who stress that one of the best feelings about a car is actually driving/having control of it, might not have to pursue this sector heavily. However, I think that this will become a mainstream product once all of the kinks of these cars are taken care of.
ReplyDeleteI think these self driving cars could make public transportation much safer as well as decrease the amount of pollution that countries have. While it will take a while for them to work out the kinks, once it is done I see this being a very good thing for the future. Once this has been done successfully, I see companies such as Google and Apple to create their own as well.
ReplyDeleteThe insurance part of it will be intriguing to see how that plays out. Maybe it will be very risky for insurance companies and jack up prices for using this service, but the connivence may out way the costs and the density of many cities makes owning a car very inefficient.
ReplyDeletehttp://imgur.com/gallery/u7ygG6T
I am very curious to see how such an invention pans out on the real road ways. A driverless vehicle is going to need a lot of convincing to be a safe and reliable option of transportation. This vehicle brings up a lot of questions like who is really liable for accidents and things of that matter. Vehicles like these are going to be so expense and unpredictable at first and getting these to hit the market hard is no easy task at all, I would assume.
ReplyDeleteThere has been talks of self driving cars for quite some time now but it would be interesting to see them materialize as quickly as this summer. If implemented correctly it could change the whole driving culture and could be a ground breaking invention. This will help the economy as well if they use this method as public tranportation as it will generate extra revenue for the govt. But one downside is that many taxi and Uber drivers may loose their jobs increasing the unemployment rate of the country.
ReplyDeleteI am anxious to see how the rising likelihood of automated cars affects such large aspects of the US economy such as car insurance and vehicle production. Will there even be a need for car insurance if the driverless cars are said to be 100% safe and mistake-free? It will also be expensive at first for automobile manufacturers to switch to production, but it is likely that the sooner manufacturers choose to switch over production the more market share and profit they will gain in the overall market.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of self driving vehicles is very intriguing, but it does raise some questions in my head. What will the starting price be of a self driving vehicle if and when it hits the market (because of the extremely low supply and high demand)? Also, how much revenue will the government lose on driving tickets if these vehicles are truly 100% safe and error free? Lastly, what effects will this technology have on insurance companies?
ReplyDeleteI am somewhat worried with this idea, I feel alot of small business's within our country deal with cars that are supposed to be driven by humans and If these cars gain popularity in the future then those business's could be in trouble.
ReplyDelete