(Akiit.com) Most people have seen the recent advancements in self-driving cars. Indeed, we’ve all witnessed Google’s attempts to perfect the technology on the evening news. However, up until now, we’ve had no clue about the time we’d have to wait to find these products on the market. Well, that’s all changed now that members of the industry have set themselves and official goal. Experts now expect autonomous self-driving vehicles to reach our forecourts by 2020. That’s only three years away, and there are many stumbling blocks to overcome. Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the most challenging obstacles in the way of that ambition.
The legal aspects of autonomous cars
Firstly, and most importantly, we must consider all the legal issues of people using self-driving cars. For example, if someone crashes their vehicle, who do we blame? Insurance companies need to know how the process works before these models can become mass
produced. Is the owner to blame for a smash even if they weren’t in control of the automobile at the time? It’s a tricky one, and most people don’t know where to start. The situation will become far more severe when there are fatalities. The families of the victims will want justice. Does that mean they have to sue Tesla and other firms developing the technology? Only time will tell. Lawyers all over the world are eagerly watching the situation unfold.
Perfecting the technology
Secondly, it’s important to note that self-drive technology is far from perfect. There were some crashes during the testing phases conducted by Google recently. That means automotive developers need to work harder to refine their algorithms. The goal is to create vehicles that are far safer when controlled by computers. If they still cause accidents, are they better than cars driven by humans? Probably not. So, we hope that innovators will come up with improved designs fast. That is essential before they can sell the technology to the public.
Getting the price down
Experts from Thule say their team works hard to drive down the price of any new tech their release. They hope that Tesla, Google, and other self-driving specialists are doing the same thing. At the end of the day, these models are going to cost more than the average vehicle when they hit the market. However, they still need to be cheap enough for the average citizen to afford. Otherwise, they will never sell enough units to make a substantial profit. If that happens, the technology could disappear quickly.
As you can see from that information, there’s a lot of work to be done during the next three years. Will the industry stick to their timeline and refine the tech? We certainly hope so. Most people are excited about the idea of getting from A to B without having to remain in control of their car. That would give them more time to work or get themselves ready for the day. However, the new developments will get a lot of bad press if accidents happen from day one. So, the experts will have to pull something impressive out of the bag if they want to achieve their new timeline goals.
Staff Writer; Ann Jacobs