self driving cars

Seems like the latest topic at CES show taking place now in Las Vegas is autonomous driving technology. Several car makers are displaying their potential capability in this field. Mercedes, BMW, Tesla, Volvo and many others are trying to show that they can do it too.

It is definitely a hot topic and it has been on the lips of many auto makers and industry observers since early 2015. VW also put a video on Youtube to show their self driving car on testing. Self driving cars has been a topic of conversation for many years but regulations in several countries restrict it as the technology has not been proven. It is very much a catch 22 problem whereby if no one allows you to have it, how do you prove that it works?

Field testing for such technology is endless and there are so many areas where the system can fail and how would insurance companies react to this? if a car that is self driven and gets into an accident, will the insurance company pay out? How much real life testing must be undertaken before regulatory bodies and insurance companies can agree to allow such a system to be used?

As more cars are now able to be connected to the internet, the next point will be about cyber security for cars. If a car that is capable of self driving, a hacker could easier hack the system and utilise the car to commit crime or even harm innocent people. there are many legal issues that will come up and the auto makers will have a lot on their plate to deal with.

the idea of a self driving car is still good nevertheless as we have seen numerous accidents that resulted from tired or drunk drivers or people using their phones while driving. the self driving car will allow a tired or a drunk person to get home without actually driving. And for business people they could use their phone while the automated system can drive them to their destination.

this autonomous driving will be the way of the future, the question is how soon before it will become mainstream. Tesla is already offering this in their cars via the wireless software update. It is a bold step to be the first but it is certain that bugs and software glitches are bound to follow.