Driverless cars would be a fascinating experience and a unique one that gives you the thrill of the best sci-fi gadget on the road. Those who are waiting for these wonderfully designed vehicles that need no human assistance should also be aware of the fact that the story may not be as exciting as you thought. Apart from being completely automated, the cars are expected to perform at their best when the vehicles surrounding them are also automated.
According to a report by the Department for Transport (DfT), when one fourth of all vehicles are automated you can expect an increase of 0.9% in the delays on motorways during the peak driving hours. Moreover, as the automated vehicles are designed to avoid accidents and run more cautiously than man driven cars, you can expect lower efficiency in their network performance as well.
Researchers also suggest that the best benefits of driverless cars can be experienced when the vehicles around them are of the same category. Since the automated cars respond to the behaviour of the neighbouring vehicles, they would give best results only when majority of vehicles around them are driverless vehicles. Due to this, there would be a lot of congestion which can be reduced only if 50 to 75% of the vehicles on the roads are automated.
According to Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, “There’s a prize to be had in terms of swifter, safer journeys, but the transition to that world will be challenging. There are around 32 million conventional cars on the UK’s roads – as driverless cars come in, traffic flow could initially get worse rather than better, potentially for many years. Much will depend on how an autonomous car’s parameters are set and just how defensively these vehicles will be programmed to drive.”
As per the study, it is estimated that an average delay of 12.4 per cent would be observed on urban roads provided that 25% of the vehicles are driverless machines. On the other hand, city areas with lower speed limits would benefit the most from these computerised cars. Whatever be the case, there is still a lot of scope for research on driverless cars which may push down the man driven cars by 2050.
Transport minister John Hayes expressed his views on this topic by saying that “This exciting and extensive study shows that driverless cars could vastly improve the flow of traffic in our towns and cities, offering huge benefits to motorists including reduced delays and more reliable journey times.”
Another big question that arises is about providing motor insurance for the driverless vehicles. While the insurance community seemed divided on this topic, it was signalled in last year’s Queen’s Speech that insurers would cover the vehicle as well as the driver in a single policy. However, there is no official announcement on it as of now and all we can do is keep waiting for the robotic machines to arrive on the roads.
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