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The Future of Driving

Selina Barker
artist rendering of a futuristic city at night
Photo by Nat on Unsplash

As the world looks forward to the new year ahead, thoughts of the future come to mind in many ways. And in many ways, the future we once looked forward to is now unfolding around us. Just a few years ago the idea of autonomous driving seemed as far away as flying cars, but now new vehicles come with features to drive, park, and start themselves. If current trends continue, what might driving look like in the future?

 

What will cars look like in the future?


The way of the future for car manufacturers is Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, early iterations of which we can already see. New cars come equipped with driver assistance systems like lane departure warning, blind spot warning, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist that centers the vehicle in the lane, automatic braking, self-parking, and even autonomous driving that moves the vehicle forwards or backwards without the driver being in the car at all.


“Another promising opportunity for technology to help create safer streets is the way that it could address persistent traffic safety issues on today’s roads. Speed limiters, for example, could be used in coordination with lower speed limits”

As technology advances, we are likely to see more widespread implementation of these innovations, some of which have been shown to reduce crashes and save lives. New features are sometimes designed in a way that helps human drivers be safer, as in the case of the above examples, but sometimes vehicle innovation doesn’t seem to have safety in mind at all.


Some features call into question car manufacturer’s motivations for innovation. One such example is new cars that replace physical buttons and functions with large, bright digital screens. These screens are visual, physical, and mental distractions to drivers. Previously, actions like climate and volume control were accessible with the touch of a tactile button on a car’s dashboard that drivers often didn’t even have to look at to feel and activate. Without these buttons, commonly adjusted features have been turned into an app-like system where something as simple as turning the heat or air-conditioning on is behind multiple taps on a flat screen. This makes it impossible to access without a driver taking their eyes, hands, and mind off the task of driving for several consecutive seconds, therefore increasing the chance of a crash. Unfortunately, in the future we may see more companies “innovating” without safety in mind.

 

Cars of the future…today?


With all the technology in new cars being advertised today, it can feel like the future is closer than we think. For example, the numerous high-profile tests of driverless vehicles that have come out of the United States in the past few years.


In 2021, “a semitruck completed an 80-mile route in Arizona with no human on board.” The journey took place overnight, and the truck completed its driverless route without the need for human intervention. However, by negating the need for one truck driver, a need was created for a lot more drivers to supervise the truck and ensure it and its cargo was safe.


“A lead vehicle scouted the route for unexpected obstacles about five miles ahead of the autonomous semi, and a trailing vehicle following about one-half mile behind the truck was prepared to intervene if necessary, along with several unmarked police vehicles.”

As futuristic as a driverless fleet of vehicles may seem at first, it can be easy to overlook the fact that today’s technology is not close to being ready to do what millions of professional drivers do every day and night, in heavy traffic and adverse weather, smartly navigating around obstacles and hazards in real time.


On the long road towards fully robotic vehicles, a lot of human mind power and physical ability must be employed to ensure the events of science-fiction don’t become reality, such as in David Mason’s “Road Stop,” where of an autonomous vehicle he ominously writes, “Everything automatic, steering, destination set ... just like any car is, nowadays. Only it wasn't quite perfect, somehow.”


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