DRIVERLESS CARS BY FIONA CUMMINGS

Self-driving cars may sound like something from a sci fi futuristic movie, but could they happen in our lifetime? As in my life time? How long have I got left? God knows but I would guess I could have upt to another forty years. I have to say I am rather scared of them and how many children will just get in their parents’ cars and drive off? How many people who have no vision will be on the roads and is that a bad thing? No, but scary. Or people who seriously take it as a joke?

 

My Husband is really wanting one of these. You may know unless you are new readers, we are both blind. But the thought of just being able to pack up a picnic and go for a drive, pull up somewhere and just chill or get to that important meeting or just go shopping or even to visit our friends who are spread all over the country. Right now, some would say we are almost like prisoners. We are fortunate to get out with our dogs but they have limitations. And they normally involve some kind of public transport and that has to be planned. What if we just fancy a drive a random drive just as those with sight and what if we want something at our big shop, to get to it by foot is so dangerous and to get there by bus will take longer than it would by walking but if we could just jump in our car and drive there, oh, wow, it would be amazing. Though I’m still scared of doing so. As my Husband says, we already get into a self-drive car every time we get in a vehicle. How? Well we have no say we sit there and are driven, but that is by a human who we kind of do have some sort of control over as in asking them to stop for example what if one day the car just takes charge? One day I do believe that robots will take over humanity.

 

These cars will be really great to stop anyone who lives with isolation and combat loneliness. As it is, we connect to the internet in our cars and our vehicles already perform emergency stops and adapted cruise control to increase fuel efficiency.

 

In the UK, our Government have committed to spending over £200million on research and infrastructure to accelerate the delivery of safe and secure automated vehicles.

development.

 

 The market for self-driving vehicles is predicted to be worth 52 billion in the UK by 2035!

 

Just think about this. Not all friends are on a bus route. And how many people with sight, pick up their friends and all car share for a day out? Well it would be great if we could pick up our other friends who also are blind and do something just like you. And right now, our sighted friends do all the driving for us. We as in my Husband and myself feel bad about this and wish we could take part in some of the responsibility. One company in the UK who are working with D/V, are called Flourish. Let’s see what happens with driverless cars!