It is estimated that self-driving cars could potentially deliver a boost of more than £8bn every year, claim researchers. It’s expected that by giving people with disabilities this way to travel more freely could increase their education and earnings potential.
New research on these “autonomous” cars found that there is no need for a human at the wheel and that this tech could open up countless opportunities for the disabled. Instead of relying on public transport, the estimated 1 million disabled people will be offered the chance to boost their qualifications and increase their income by around £8,500 per year.
SAE International has described six levels of vehicle autonomy, starting at Level 0, which is a standard vehicle that issues warnings to the driver but has no control, up to Level 5 where no human intervention is required after the destination has been set. The levels in between describe different stages of vehicle’s systems involvement in the process of traffic navigation.
This and several other ideas have been explored on the Connected Car conference held by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) last Thursday, where the main topic was how the technology will transform the industry and what are the opportunities that might be presented.
Chief executive of the trade body, Mike Hawes, has stated that the benefits of connected and autonomous vehicles could be life-changing and that they have a lot to offer. It’s also predicted that these self-driving cars will be a common thing by the 2030s. “Fully autonomous cars will be a step change for society, and this report shows people are already seeing their benefits. The challenge now is to create the conditions that will allow this technology to thrive,” he said.
The increase of people who believe in these self-driving cars has also been detected and encouraged.
Google’s driverless cars have logged 1.3 million miles already, and the rest of the companies are testing the technology themselves. The race to put large numbers of these driverless cars on the roads has already started.
It’s estimated that the high cost of insurance won’t be a factor for long when it comes to young people driving, and older people also believe that the self-driving cars will make their every-day responsibilities easier to manage. This will also improve the traffic safety, as age-related issues will size to be an issue.
What is perceived as the biggest benefit when it comes to self-driving cars is the stress-relief that is expected to occur once the pressure of parking the car and driving through intense traffic is off? The tech that self-diagnoses traffic problems are expected to ease motorist’s mind.
Britain is planning to make the development of the autonomous cars one of their priorities, and therefore be at the forefront of the new era of vehicle revolution.
If Britain is established as the world leader in this field, the potential payoff is estimated to be massive. The SMMT valued the connection of these cars to the internet as being worth more that £51bn every year to the UK economy by 2030. This also has a potential to create over 320,000 jobs.
The latest research about the impact that these cars could have was conducted by Stratrgy&, which is a unit of global consultants PwC.
Strategy&’s partner, Mark Couttie, said that a positive public perception of the project must be achieved in order for all of this to happen, and that “Expanding people’s horizons about the advantages of fully autonomous cars is a vital first step. This means better communicating the art of the possible to increase social acceptance and dispel concerns that our survey identified relating to cost and safety.”
