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Cars will rather fly than drive autonomously, expert predicts

Cars will rather fly than drive autonomously, expert predicts

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By Christoph Hammerschmidt



In the interview, Dromi said the concept of autonomous driving is a huge misunderstanding: Carmakers believe it is more or less an additional feature and a further development of existing driver assistances systems. This perception is wrong, Dromi explained. In reality, autonomous driving is a gigantic infrastructure project which will take much time to be implemented. Dromi expressed his opinion that cars should not use the same roads as pedestrians. Instead, they need a separate and dedicated system of roads exclusively for this type of vehicles – an infrastructure they should no share with pedestrians, cyclists or even conventional vehicles. “In a couple of years, we will wonder how this could ever have been different,” Dromi said.

Upon the interviewer’s objection that the latest research of urban planners indicates that sharing the traffic infrastructure calms traffic and revitalizes urban environments, Dromi said that this effect won’t materialize with self-driving vehicles – for the simple reason that road hogs will make this mixed type of road traffic impossible. “Imagine what happens if all pedestrians know that the cars will always and under all circumstances brake for them as soon as they simply put their foot onto the street,” he argued.

 

He added that mixed traffic of autonomous and conventional vehicles might work well on country roads or highways, but not in city environments, because the algorithms that control self-driving vehicles are of defensive nature. They are programmed to avoid accidents and therefore will slow down whenever a human or conventional vehicle makes some kind of mistake. “This will lead to paralyzing the city traffic”, he said. “One self-driving vehicle amidst thousand manually-controlled cars, this works. But thousands of self-driving vehicles and one conventional car in the middle of it will end up in a traffic infarct.”


Nevertheless, Dromi also found arguments to defend self-driving vehicles. With autonomous cars, cities only need half of today’s area for parking because these vehicles are shared by multiple users. Plus, most streets will need less lanes, freeing up space for other urban and cultural purposes. In this context, he supported the idea of car sharing, an idea that is regarded as inherently connected to autonomous driving. Against the background of the very low utilization of privately owned cars – these vehicles are typically unused during 95% of the time – Dromi predicted that subscription-based models will prevail in the future. “Whenever you as a subscriber need a car, you will summon it and soon it will come in around the corner,” he said.

Drones will accommodate rising shares of the everyday traffic, from passenger transport to garbage disposal. “What are drones other than flying autonomous cars?” he asked. Their benefit, according to the expert: The infrastructure is already there, because they fly through the air and do not need any roads. However, to guarantee accident-free drone traffic, a comprehensive control system will be needed.

Further reading:

BMW WILL SOON TEST AUTONOMOUS CARS – WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM INTEL AND MOBILEYE

TESLA TO EQUIP ALL VEHICLES FOR AUTONOMOUS DRIVING

Tomtom taps AI to create street map for autonomous driving

Google finds cooperation partner for autonomous driving development

Walmart to test drone deliveries

Jaguar taps into brain waves to ensure driver attention

 

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