These days, it looks like persons are spending a whole lot of time pondering what society can be like post-Coronavirus. Whereas everyone seems to be craving going again to the world we knew, we’re additionally acknowledging that the world won’t ever be the identical. I admire that there have been many articles (like this one and this one) that current a few of the societal shifts that might occur because of this pandemic and I figured I’d take it a step farther and see what it’d imply within the driverless trade. Listed here are a few of the large tendencies (related to driverless automobiles) that I’m seeing:
- Automotive gross sales are shifting to an internet market (hyperlink right here);
- Searching for groceries, garments, and all the things else is massively shifting on-line, which is lowering our particular person automobile possession, however placing heavy reliance on items supply (hyperlink right here);
- Since workplaces are encouraging working remotely, buying has largely shifted on-line, and most public locations are closed, persons are driving a lot much less (hyperlink right here);
- Individuals are scared to experience public transit and take shared rides because of the shut proximity to others (link right here);
Whereas many of those modifications are out of necessity at this time, it’s very doable that they’ll instill long-term change. So what does this imply for driverless automobiles? It’s clear persons are looking forward to the driverless supply of products, which is a superb alternative for constructing shopper acceptance for driverless automobiles, generally. And this large discount in automobile miles traveled (VMT) is reminding individuals of a cleaner, safer world – might this create longer-term impacts? Higher environmental insurance policies? Alternatively, this doesn’t bode properly for shared, driverless rides – although I’m hopeful this isn’t a long-term affect.
I hope our society could be considerate about how we re-open our society…not simply close to the sharing of germs, however with our insurance policies, our companies, and our particular person practices. Let’s take into consideration the world we wish and turn out to be proactively attempt to make it occur. Shared, electrical, driverless automobiles – how will we get there? Encourage shared rides, incentivize electrical automobile utilization, create supportive driverless rules, discourage single occupancy automobile utilization (and automobile possession, generally), and proceed to show and talk driverless automobile success tales. Whereas the know-how continues to be superior, these are all essential foundational parts.
