The 2012 legalization of driverless cars in California set this chain of events in motion.
And while it might be an inevitability due to technological innovation, California is the trendsetter/guinea pig state once again with automotive and tech companies setting up shop to develop the first commercially available driverless car.
Google is the obvious rockstar in this arena with some 1.8 million driverless miles logged and no at-fault accidents. Companies like California-based Tesla have also spending time on driverless R&D.
The issues on the horizon for the local governments are what the increased reliability and safety of driverless cars eliminate. Traffic violations are one, DUIs are another. Once driverless is the norm, and with the eventual banning of human-driven cars that Tesla’s Elon Musk expects, all the fees associated with screwing up on the road are going to dry up considerably.
Sharing economics is another word being tossed around, as the average car sits idle for a great portion of the day. But a driverless car could drop you off at work and then go about providing ride sharing through the day.
Welcome to the future.
Image Credit: Flickr User transportgovuk, https://flic.kr/p/r8MSxx via (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)