Autonomous Cars

Self-Drive Cars - Why Regulators Are In Favor

• These are the stakeholders - legislators, regulators, insurers, car companies and drivers
  
  Google has been talking to the first four groups for a decade. The last one, not so much.
  
  The first four can see the major financial advantages of these cars, and are doing all they can to make them happen.

Self-Drive Cars Are Much Safer

• City dwellers like safety rules, particularly when applied to other people. They want others to drive slowly near schools, they want to feel safe crossing the road, and they get upset at news stories about little kids run down by errant cars.
  
  Interesting anecdote from a London Times writer: Rather than take three points on my licence, I spent Saturday afternoon with 20 others being taught why speeding is wrong. This is one of the only occasions when all the social classes come, awkwardly, together. We were united, though, in scepticism when told to obey the speed limit simply because it is illegal not to. We all thought it implausible to claim that doing 32mph in a 30 zone is as bad as murder.
  
  The surprising consequences changed our minds, though. A bare image, of a road where an eight-year-old boy was killed, graphically made the point that, even though fewer people (1,700) died on the roads last year than ever before, one is too many.
  
  It was the speeding arithmetic that made me take it seriously. Imagine an incident in which it is possible to stop while doing 30mph. If you had been driving at 32mph instead, you would hit someone at 11mph. At 35mph you will be doing 18 on impact. The kinetic energy of a metal car can do serious damage to a human body at 18mph. I think I’ll slow down next time.

Self-Drive Cars Make Cities Work More Efficiently

• Want to move people around their city as efficiently as possible.
  
  Autonomous cars won't need to park on city streets, so (a) can fit more cars in, and (b) don't need infrastructure of parking meters and wardens writing tickets.
  
  Sure, there will be a revenue impact from not writing parking tickets, but at least partially offset from fewer accidents meaning less clean-up costs.

Economic Impact of Self-Drive Cars

• Bars and restaurants will prosper (and pay more taxes and fees) if customers no longer have to worry about DUI laws.
  
  One of the major drawbacks of modern cities is the traffic congestion.
  
  Any reduction in congestion is an improvement of the quality of life for people trying to get around the city.
  
  And that's one of the promises of self-drive cars.
  
  Bottom line - regulators LOVE the idea of autonomous cars.

• These are the stakeholders who want Self-Drive Cars
  
  

  Legislators

  
  

  Regulators

  
  

  Insurers

  
  

  Car Companies

  
  

  Google

  
  

  Drivers