TWO YEARS. That’s how long Elon Musk, the head of Tesla Motors, claims it will take for fully autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars) to be market ready. We’re no longer in the realm of science fiction; the technology is here, and it’s only a matter of time until we see them on our roads, not just in their testing stage, but in the hands of you, the consumer.
Driverless cars will create a huge paradigm shift in the automotive industry and it will be up to those involved to either adapt, or become part of a niche industry rooted in nostalgia. Over the next decade, public discussion will become increasingly focused on driverless cars and the impact they pose on society. How will manufacturers, insurance companies or taxi-drivers be affected? And how will the community transport sector be affected?
“Driverless cars will create a huge paradigm shift in the automotive industry and it will be up to those involved to either adapt, or become part of a niche industry rooted in nostalgia.”
The main concern consumers have is obvious: how safe will they be? As scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson points out, when we have a ‘system’ of moving coordinates, cars will be able to communicate with each other in a far more sophisticated manner than simply turning on your indicator. Consider Google’s fleet of self-driving vehicles; spokeswoman Jacquelyn Miller said that in more than 1.8 million miles of autonomous and manual driving, every incident regarding a minor fender-bender was caused by human error. Had all vehicles within proximity been driverless, the accident rate would be zero.
Not only will driverless cars make the roads safer, they’ll completely streamline the process of driving. Your car will know the fastest route to take to any destination, exactly how many cars are stuck in traffic nearby and every single possible way to circumvent that.
ComLink has always been an advocate for new technology. Behind the scenes, our navigation system at Head Office tracks drivers in real time, allowing our team to coordinate unexpected changes in schedules or driving conditions. HMS is a state-of-the-art data entry system customized for ComLink’s needs which now has an accompanying mobile app, allowing ComLink to alert drivers to schedule changes as they happen.
Combining our passion for innovation with genuine human interaction is what makes ComLink unique and we will not settle for one without the other. In considering this, there are several challenges that driverless vehicles would need to overcome before they would become an asset to the community sector.
While driverless cars and busses would allow large amounts of clients to be transported, they wouldn’t provide a social dimension unless there were others present to facilitate interaction. A core aim of community transport is to reconnect clients with the community. The social interaction clients have during transport trips with drivers not only provides them with a sense of inclusion, but also gives them somebody familiar to check up on their wellbeing. Additionally, the presence of human drivers acts as a safeguard for the client in emergency situations. A driverless car may not be able to detect a passenger in distress and would not be able to administer first aid in an emergency.
Another uncertainty presented to community transport is the future of automobile design. Currently, both the exterior and interior of cars are designed for human drivers. Side mirrors and the positioning of a driver’s seat are requirements now, but not likely to be in the future. With the change of interior design, the accessibility of seating may also change. Examples of this may be lounge seating, reversible seats, as well as Lamborghini style doors, opening upwards rather than outwards. This is significant for community transport clients, who often through frailty, or disability, are not able to access regular transport independently. While the future may include more inclusively designed vehicles, human assistance may still be needed for some time to help clients entering and exiting safely.
The future of autonomous transport is exciting, and ComLink welcomes the possibilities. While innovation in transport will provide major efficiencies, nothing will be able to replace, or replicate, the human touch.