These days, it looks as if individuals are spending lots of time pondering what society can be like post-Coronavirus. Whereas everyone seems to be craving going again to the world we knew, we’re additionally acknowledging that the world won’t ever be the identical. I respect that there have been many articles (like this one and this one) that current among the societal shifts that would occur because of this pandemic and I figured I’d take it a step farther and see what it would imply within the driverless trade. Listed below are among the large developments (related to driverless autos) that I’m seeing:
- Automotive gross sales are shifting to a web based market (hyperlink right here);
- Looking for groceries, garments, and all the pieces else is massively shifting on-line, which is decreasing our particular person automobile possession, however placing heavy reliance on items supply (hyperlink right here);
- Since workplaces are encouraging working remotely, procuring has largely shifted on-line, and most public locations are closed, individuals are driving a lot much less (hyperlink right here);
- Individuals are scared to journey public transit and take shared rides because of the shut proximity to others (link right here);
Whereas many of those adjustments are out of necessity at the moment, it’s very attainable that they are going to instill long-term change. So what does this imply for driverless autos? It’s clear individuals are longing for the driverless supply of products, which is a superb alternative for constructing shopper acceptance for driverless autos, basically. And this huge discount in automobile miles traveled (VMT) is reminding individuals of a cleaner, safer world – may this create longer-term impacts? Higher environmental insurance policies? However, this doesn’t bode nicely for shared, driverless rides – although I’m hopeful this isn’t a long-term affect.
I hope our society might be considerate about how we re-open our society…not simply close to the sharing of germs, however with our insurance policies, our companies, and our particular person practices. Let’s take into consideration the world we wish and grow to be proactively attempt to make it occur. Shared, electrical, driverless autos – how can we get there? Encourage shared rides, incentivize electrical automobile utilization, create supportive driverless laws, discourage single occupancy automobile utilization (and automobile possession, basically), and proceed to show and talk driverless automobile success tales. Whereas the expertise continues to be superior, these are all essential foundational components.
