It was a race of the automatic cars this year at the CES 2014 Expo, with many leading automakers unveiling their insanely hi-tech driverless cars. With help from Google and NVidia, GM, Honda, Audi and Hyundai now have cutting-edge Android technology to link you to your car so the two of you can work as one sentient unit.
Thilo Koslowski, an automotive analyst at Gartner, stated that he could “foresee that cars will become self-aware where they can really understand what is happening inside and outside. That together will create a self-aware vehicle that can look out for you, that can control the information and focus on providing the right information at the right times to protect you, inform you and entertain you”. And while this may at first sound like a post-robot-apocalypse nightmare and shake today’s humanoid drivers to their very core, we’re here to inform you that driverless cars are awesome and we can prove it.
As of yet, self-driving cars are not remotely road legal. But when they are (and they will be), you’ll be able to multi-task to your heart’s content – texting, eating and doing all those wonderful things road safety currently prohibits. Phone calls in transit, surfing the radiowaves and general relaxation will all be absolutely socially acceptable.
And even though you won’t be driving, there’ll be no chance of you getting bored since each car will have Android technology linking you to all those lovely devices you can’t live without. Hyundai made the decision to develop cars which are compatible with both Android and Apple’s iOS eco-system to give the consumer a proverbial pick n’ mix of in-car entertainment. 4G high speed broadband will be installed to allow internet access, while BMW’s new i3 electric car can be controlled by the new Samsung Galaxy Gear Smart watch and Bluetooth wireless technology. Pretty nifty.
“A lot of people already have personal relationships with their automobiles and with this technology … the car will become an extension, a companion,” said Koslowski.
In addition to being utterly awesome and innovative, driverless cars have also got safety covered. Thanks to these crazy new technologies, we could see a significant reduction in motor accidents which I think we can all agree is a major plus. Reducing the human error element of driving may sound a little depressing for free-spirited road-trippers and old-school motorists alike, but these innovations could save lives while reducing insurance premiums by more than 60% and that’s a pretty serious figure. With Collision Avoidance Systems implanted within all vehicles, the roads are set to become glorious utopian highways by the 2020s.
While this is undoubtedly excellent news for drivers and cyclists, insurance companies will likely suffer as a result. Suggestions have been made to seek a ‘Delay or Impede Progress Order’ in lieu of how this technology could impact on the motor insurance industry. Only last month, Ford unveiled a fully automated vehicle enabled with the technology to communicate with each other and the world around, in order to reduce congestion and make those roads extra safe. The question is whether insurance companies will even need to exist once we can eliminate the human error factor. Most major insurers already have telematics programs with the ability to track mileage and driving habits, but soon a driver’s habits and a car’s behaviour will no longer be mutually exclusive.
Nearly 40 percent of the property and casualty industry comes from vehicle insurance premiums and so, acknowledging the fact that driverless cars could reduce the sale of coverage for personal and commercial vehicles, will be top if the industry’s list. Loretta Worters (vice President of the Insurance Information Institute) agrees that the times are changing in a big way, speculating that “if driverless cars become a reality, and if, as a result, there is a dramatic reduction in the number and severity of vehicle-related accidents, there is no doubt it is going to have a major impact on auto insurance.”
As physical driving draws ever closer to being an obsolete practice, you’ll probably want to take motoring matters into your hands before the droids take over. Whether you’re want an Audi for cruising or a cheeky smart car for zipping through the city, the Car Loan Warehouse can sort the finance for the car you want at a rate you can afford. Check out our loan calculator to see the kind of rate you could find with the Car Loan Warehouse and let’s get this show on the road.
