Google’s Cars Will Change Everything – Driverless Cars (Part 1/6)
Auto accidents will be rarer than lightning strikes. Cars will be ultra reliable; as safe for travel as tap water is for drinking.
Traffic jams will be fewer — and traffic won’t matter much anyway since you’ll be using that time productively.
Cubicles will be obsolete. Your car will be a mobile office, an extension of your home, and a car—all wrapped into one.
Look at how single-purpose landline telephones have developed into multi-dimensional cell phones. So too are cars evolving—as we speak.
Your driverless car will take you from place to place. But you won’t be driving it. You’ll be getting office work done while it drives you. You’ll have one extra hour of productive time every day—an hour you don’t have currently because you use it to drive yourself.
Cars will be parked on the sides of buildings—I have concept art to illustrate this later in the series. 
Driverless cars will be ultra fast. Technologies currently being developed may actually get us up to land speeds of 4000-5000mph.
Welcome to driverless car technology. I’ll tell you all about it… but first, I want to express 2 things:
- I put a lot of work into creating multiple concept art and infographic pieces for this series; so be sure to check out all the articles. It means a lot to me, like a dream come true, that other people are reading this. FYI: I’ll be releasing the articles on a daily basis over a 5-day period.
- I’ll be showing you a lot of text and a lot of graphics. Dig in and you’ll discover juicy tidbits and provocative perspectives to tell your family, friends, and colleagues. I promise.
Now, let’s get on with the magic show. *cracks knuckles*
Mankind has been dreaming about driverless cars for a long time. And now a company has dedicated itself to spearheading the effort. Not just any company. A big one. Google.
When I heard that Google’s been working diligently on their driverless car, my ears perked up. They received a patent, and also the obligatory bad press. Driverless cars are getting ready to roll. Soon.
And ‘soon’ means… WHEN?
My best guess is that most of us will be traveling hands-free in 20-30 years.
Ford thinks I’m off by a wide margin. Ford predicts self-driving, traffic-reducing cars will be mainstream by 2017—and their opinion matters, since they’re working on a technology called Traffic Jam Assist which may end up being the de facto standard in driverless car safety.
Five years. Insane. I applaud Ford’s ambition. I hope they prove my estimates wrong.
Have I piqued your interest? Good. Wait til I show you what the future holds — not only in writing but in full-color concept art straight from the mind of yours truly, Ersan Seer. Just think of me as your tour guide for the future.
The Advent of Driverless Cars
Let’s start this journey 20-30 years from now, as driverless cars become widely affordable and popular. This monumental new technology will restructure our lives in exciting ways. What kind of changes can you expect? Read on.
Read next post →
Driverless Cars (Part 2/6): How Future Autonomous Cars Will Change Travel
Sidenote from the author:
The concept art and infographics for this series of articles were hard to create; self-doubt can be so draining. In the end, I found a way to express my visions. It would mean a lot to me if you told me how I did. Comment below or contact me.
← Most importantly: please share this page. Let’s get this rocket ship off the ground. You will be helping my dream to come true. Thank you so much.
Ersan Seer
"Beautiful and fearsome technologies are arriving. Imagine with me." Ersan Seer is a futurist & concept artist, whose calling in life is to excite other people about the future.
The “Bad Press” article brings up the important issue of liability (as well as insurance compensation) for ‘driverless car’ accidents. How will blame be determined and assessed, and who will pay damages, when the accident is the fault of a malfunctioning piece of technology or software? “Who’s responsible?” and “Who’ll pay?” become even more compelling questions when driverless car accidents cause permanent injury or death. I see the legal environment surrounding liability as the biggest bottleneck/stumbling block to this sublime vision.
Good point… my best guess is it’ll all be considered product liability litigation. But what happens if you give the computer inaccurate data or directives? Are you at fault?
What if a sociopath says, “Car, run the neighbor’s dog over.” The computer should know enough to decline, that that’s against the law.
But what if he says, “Car, I’m having a heart attack. Take me to the hospital. Don’t slow down for that dog.”
How will the computer determine the value of one life over another? Right, human > dog. Easy answer.
But what if a gun-toting teenager starts running towards the oncoming car, and begins to lift his gun to point at the car? Will the car slow down? How will it choose?
I’m not sure how these kinds of issues will be resolved, but they’ll have to be. Driverless car technology is gaining huge momentum… search online to see the major websites discussing it.
And thanks for commenting Sally.
The next articles get pretty cool.