Driverless cars are coming. In fact, one may have already passed you on the highway and you didn’t even notice. Many people believe that self-driving cars represent the future of transportation. One of the best-kept secrets of driverless electric cars is their potential to reduce greenhouse emissions.
The Register reports that a study conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory indicates “automated electric taxis could cut vehicle emissions by over 90 percent.” This represents a significant step in the fight against greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions will become a bigger priority in coming years as developing nations add millions of new cars to the roads.
It also will help reduce the amount of fuel consumed and come 2030, the study estimates that just five percent of vehicle sales will be attributed to autonomous electric taxis, which will reduce oil consumption by 7 million barrels. Reducing overall fuel consumption goes a long way to increasing sustainability and ensuring that future generations have access to oil. People forget that oil does not just produce gasoline for transportation, but oil also produces a host of other products vital to economic growth.
This doesn’t take into account the fact that autonomous cars can drive closer to each other, substantially reducing congestion and drive times for commuters. Self-driving vehicles also free passengers to work as they commute, increasing productivity. And of course, driverless cars promise to be nearly accident free, which will save countless lives.
While most would agree that the development and deployment of driverless electric cars would have many positive benefits, there are those who see problems. Driverless cars will undoubtedly put many licensed taxi drivers, as well those who work for Lyft and Uber, out of a work.
Dr. Jeff Greenblatt, coauthor of the aforementioned study, was quoted by The Register as having said about the effect of driverless cars upon current works, “I don’t think there’s an easy answer to that—it’s another example of technology having a big change on workers.”
I don’t think there’s an easy answer to that—it’s another example of technology having a big change on workers.
Keep your eyes on the road—you might just be sharing it with a driverless car sooner than you think.
In other news, Google’s self-driving cars reportedly hit the road in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday.
