Self-Driving Cars Today, Tomorrow, Or Yesterday?

By Ben Glass, Esquire

Benjamin W. Glass and Associates

. https://www.benglasslaw.com/

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Self-Driving Cars Today, Tomorrow, Or Yesterday?

On March 19, 2018, the world got what it had feared – the first pedestrian fatality of a self-driving vehicle. This is a tragedy because someone lost her life. It also brings to the forefront a topic that has been being discussed in casual conversations across the country. The topic is the future of autonomous vehicles its ethical implications, its legal implications, and its societal impact, not to mention the conversations surrounding the automation of many industries that employ thousands of hard-working Americans. Still, the big question remains when the heck is this driverless car stuff going to happen?
Many cars already have some form of “awareness”, like the ability to safely follow the car in front of you without the driver handling the speed or braking. Some cars can now change lanes, park, and even emergency brake without a driver being involved. These technologies which once were limited to luxury model vehicles now extend into the medium-class models. It's cool stuff, yet none of those technologies is remotely close to being truly driverless.
Manufacturers actually do have prototype technology on the roads today where the car is driving itself entirely. While this isn't happening nationwide, there are localities that have fully automated vehicles driving around amongst the people and Northern Virginia is actually one of those places. That's right, we already have self-driving cars sharing our roads. You may have driven past one without even noticing as this program has been going on for over a year now. Fortunately, though, there are backup drivers to take over in case of emergencies. Unfortunately, like on March 19, even a backup driver wasn't enough to save the pedestrian's life.
However, backup drivers are already being phased out in select places. For example, the California DMV has already removed regulations requiring self-driving vehicles to have a driver in the vehicle. Many states, in an effort to be consumer or company friendly, are removing or considering removing some of the barriers that have previously kept these truly driverless cars off the roads. All that said, these driverless cars are limited to specific trials, in specific regions, with a fair amount of oversight.
The technology still has a bunch of regulatory hurdles to pass, lots of skeptical voices to address, and big industries with lobbyists to overcome before it will have any national presence, not to mention new tech is expensive, it's mysterious, and it's going to be niched for a while before it gets traction with the average consumer base.
Back to the question are driverless cars right around the corner? If we are examining whether a driverless car will be on the roads soon, the answer is we already went way past that corner. If we are examining when 5% of consumers are using driverless cars regularly, it could be within a decade. If we are examining when Jane or John Doe is fast asleep on their commute to work, the answer might stretch out quite a bit further into the future. Ultimately, few really know when this is happening, but we can all take a guess.