The near future of driving is not going to include flying cars or even hover cars. The future is in automation which Google, Apple, and others are trying to bring to the streets. Google’s latest self-driving car project has been remarkably successful and has resulted in only one accident: getting rear-ended by another driver. Instead of getting in our cars and manually controlling them as we drive to work, we will get in a car with no steering wheel, pedals, or buttons that control the car beyond the start button. We may watch a movie on Netflix, read a book, or, God forbid, text on our way to work.

I could not be more excited. I love the idea of not having to manually drive my car and knowing that nobody else does either. All of our commutes are filled with drivers not paying attention, near misses, reckless drivers, and the slowest drivers ever encountered. The driverless cars that are currently being tested have yet to get in an accident that was their fault. Automated cars don’t speed, slow down unnecessarily, or take unnecessary risks. Automated cars, I believe, are infinitely safer than cars driven by humans.

With driverless cars, everyone can get wherever they want safely including those with disabilities, young children, the blind, pets, and elders who cannot operate a vehicle safely.

I have a number of interesting predictions for the era of fully automated travel. First let’s start with the costs. If the car drives itself, the cost of insurance would plummet since human error is no longer possible. Fuel and energy costs would go down as well since computers can drive vehicles far more efficiently and smoothly than we can. Also consider law enforcement: driverless cars don’t speed, run red lights, or are affected by drunk drivers (drunk driving would no longer be a crime because you aren’t driving anyway). Law enforcement spending would plummet. Plus with fewer accidents, hospitals, fire departments, and various law enforcement agencies would save millions in accident costs.

Traffic would decrease as well since automated cars would be able to find the fastest route to any destination and would be able to avoid accidents. If all the automated cars know the location of each other, they would be able to analyze traffic patterns to find the best route to take. With automation and location tracking, traffic lights theoretically would be irrelevant and unnecessary.

Automated cars are a dream of mine, especially if everyone else has automated cars too. Driving would become the safest form of travel, stealing that crown from air travel.

I believe that someday it will be illegal to drive your own car; you will be required to let the computer drive you. People will look down upon those who still drive their car and accuse them of endangering the public. This isn’t 100 years down the road either, but a matter of decades. Within my lifetime automated cars will be the norm. Driving deaths will be less than 50 per year, drunk driving will be legal, and you’ll be able to fall asleep at the wheel without endangering a soul

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