Discussion on:

No more driver's licenses by 2040?

Despite performing the same commute day in day out for an hour each way, I for one enjoy the driving, so in 2040 I anticipate I'll still want to be able to drive.

I'd like to see cars with an autopilot mode rather than being fully automated.
I could then still enjoy driving to the pub myself and then simply get the 'beer-taxi' home :o)

This is not my idea of fun. Driving a car, piloting a boat or plane; these are pleasurable, often creative activities. Who wants to give up control and be a drone riding a conveyor from point A to point B? If you'd rather text or apply makeup while riding, then carpool, catch a cab or hire a limo. (Think of the people employed as professional drivers, and all who support them.) At the rate systems fail, who'd trust their life to this? What's the manual backup option if no one is licensed? Even George Jetson operates his own flying car.

I would be quite happy to see 75% of the cars on the road being automated! It would make the roads safer for the other 25% and the motorcyclists.

I don't see how traffic signals can be eliminated unless we have near-100% automation, but the automated cars would be able to get through intersections faster (no waiting 2 seconds) and reduce wait times that way.

I've been waiting years for this - the sooner the better. I don't mind driving some of the time but there's so many other things I could be doing instead plus the fewer distracted or drunk drivers we have operating their own cars, the better we'll ALL be.

What happened to the prediction that everybody would be riding a form of mass transit?

The system in your car goes off line? Or a simple failing power transformer on a power pole causes interference for the communication between cars on a given stretch of road causing dozens of cars to go out of control.

People still need to know how to drive safely to handle problems that will come up.

People also forget that the GPS system behind the guidance of these vehicles is owned by the military.

The military has so much faith in GPS they have started a program to develop an inertial navigation based replacement for GPS systems in a host of items ranging from vehicle navigation systems to aerial bombs and guided missiles.

All of them have had their GPS guidance systems jammed by crude homemade devices in Iraqi and Afghanistan making multi million dollar equipment useless.

Besides, how many cars today are controlled by drivers busy texting or fiddling with the entertainment system? You'd have to agree that this is far more common than the incidental transformer or communication error would be.

I am certain that overall such systems will be safer than the manually controlled vehicles of today.

With an unlucky combination of cosmic rays, your engine could go to full throttle, your brakes stay disengaged, and your transmission remain locked in gear. On many cars the steering could ignore your request to turn. Your doors could lock with the windows up and the heater on high, but with no fresh air. Your stereo could go to full volume. Your seat could crush your knees against the dash.

All this could happen, but it probably won't.

What about back seat drivers?

But what will all of those voters do when asked to present their picture ID? /sarc

Most commercial aircraft are already automated yet we still have licensed pilots that fly / babysit them. Autonomous car technology does nothing for driveways, dirt roads, parking lots, construction zones, network failures, towing, launching a boat, etc... Cars in the future will always have a manual mode, and in order to get into one and go somewhere, there will still be a requirement for a licensed operator. Freeways and highways may become automated driving zones but there is still a need for a manual mode on those as well. Unless we get rid of all personal vehicles, we will all continue to have and need drivers licenses.

I've been hearing about automated vehicles for years, and I'm not surprised that automakers are still moving that direction. However, the projection for no longer needing traffic lights is a little concerning. Bicyclists rely on those signals too, and if all traffic is automated, that means they won't be able to use the roads. Bike paths, sure--but few cities are rich with those. I'm interested to see how futurists plan on solving that problem with the efficiency and minimal expense required by a widespread solution.

My car already knows if a bicycle is behind me when I back up. Those automated cars should easily slow to let a bicycle through the intersection. So, automation may be the best thing yet for bicycling. Just ride and the cars magically avoid and go around you. Ride right on through the busy intersection and the sea just parts as if you were walking on water.

get one here: http://www.ligier.fr/transport-autonome-de-passagers