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The genie is officially out of the bottle, and there\u2019s no putting it back again. Autonomous cars are coming whether we\u2019re ready and whether we like them. The question really becomes, \u201cWhat does it mean for the driving experience?\u201d<\/p>\n
Different companies are adopting different approaches. Google is going for what industry insiders call a \u201cMoonshot Approach.” Their test vehicle does not even have a steering wheel. It\u2019s a hugely ambitious undertaking, and one that will require all of the underlying technology to be perfectly balanced, debugged and understood before it will be successful.<\/p>\n
The automakers experimenting with autonomous vehicles\u2014and most of them are\u2014are taking a more cautious, measured approach, introducing one tiny feature at a time, slowly building toward fully autonomous vehicles.<\/p>\n
This makes more sense, intuitively, because each iterative step gives the customer base time to adapt to and embrace the changes, and it gives the automakers the opportunity to thoroughly perfect their tech before adding another layer of complexity. It\u2019s also good from a legal perspective because it gives lawmakers a chance to see primitive versions of the tech \u2018in the wild,\u2019 as it were, and make legislation according to what actually happens, rather than basing their legislation on conjecture.<\/p>\n
All of those are good things, but none of them answer the core question asked by the title of this piece. Is the future of driving destined to be boring? Based on what we know of the technology so far, the answer to that question appears to be yes\u2014until it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Form, Function and Purpose<\/strong> So, since there is a human override built into, or planned to be built into, every autonomous vehicle, for the most part, we can say that the future of driving will be pretty tame. Dull. We\u2019ll sit idly behind the wheel, reading a book or working a crossword puzzle, or otherwise passing the time, but in the event that something goes wrong, the computer is going to tell us that it needs us back in control. By definition, that\u2019s only going to happen when the computer senses conditions that lie outside of its programming, which means things are already fairly dire and decidedly not boring at that point.<\/p>\n Of course, as the technology advances, so too will the range of situations that the computer will be able to handle. The day may come when no human intervention is ever needed. Right now, that\u2019s an awfully long way off, but it could happen. Until then, there will still be the occasional prospect of excitement and\/or terror behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
\nThe overarching purpose of autonomous vehicles is two-fold. First, added safety, and let\u2019s face it\u2014safety is boring. The second is comfort. Comfort might not be boring, but it\u2019s not too exciting either. Even so, all of these cars have a fail-safe mode that allows for human intervention. The thinking is that sometimes, things just go sideways, and if the computer encounters something outside its programming, it\u2019ll generate an error and crash. That will (predictably) result in the car crashing, which is why a human override is necessary, because we don\u2019t want a blue screen of actual death when something goes wrong.<\/p>\n