While reading an article by the BBC about the future of cars, all I could think about was the skills humans are going to lose by having a car that can basically do everything for them. Manufacturers predict that by 2050 people won't even need to touch the steering wheel. They say that new cars won'nt "even require [people] to take the controls". The word "require" really stood out to me and made it seem like taking the controls was such a hassle. "Require" implies that someone is being forced to do something against their will. This makes the cars of the future seem luxurious compared to the cars that "require" that we control it. At first, this sounded cool to me, but when I thought about it more, it started to alarm me. If driving becomes so effortless, what will happen to the number of people who bike or walk to their destinations? It will go down, a lot. People will hardly know their way around their neighborhood since they are now able to completely zone out while driving. In this picture featured in the article, the drivers are not even paying attention to the road because the car doesn't "require" them to. Driving this kind of car would not demand any sort of brain function.
Once these autonomous cars become common, people will have little desire to enjoy the outdoors anymore. It is likely that the legal driving age will go down because drivers literally need no knowledge or awareness in order to drive their car... they basically aren't even driving. Young teens who normally wouldn't be able to drive - due to not being old enough to have a license - now can. Instead of biking to their friends house, all they will need to do is program their car to take them there. They would rarely need to ride their bikes or walk places. Obviously this is bad regarding their physical health, but they will also be missing out on the beautiful nature and fresh air around them.
There are some definite upsides of having this new technology implemented into cars. There would be fewer accidents and traffic jams, but I am not looking forward to the new mindset people will adapt.
Wow really cool blog! I never even considered the downside of futuristic cars. It seems that with most technological advancements nowadays there are downsides. Particularly with technological advancements in products that people consume. Just think about screens in general. People used to never spend time on things like Facebook, xbox, surfing the web, or texting but now it's hard to Imagine life without it. So I think cars that steer themselves is definitely a part of this trend. I wonder if the majority of people will actually buy them though. I think the idea of putting so much trust in the hands of a machine is frightening to people. Also I think some people enjoy actually steering a car. You certainly wont be able to floor it when the light turns orange or take a side street shortcut when "your destination is being calculated" for you. Lastly, I wonder how affordable these cars will be. Tesla is taking great initiative to advance the electric cat industry but they have yet to produce an electric car that can both travel long distances and remain affordable. I wonder if these new cars will follow a similar trend.
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