Autonomous vehicles are going to change society as we know it. This will usher in Transportation-as-a-Service.
We are seeing a race that includes Tesla, Baidu, Google, Apple, and most auto manufacturers trying to solve this issue. Billions are being dumped into this realm to develop robotaxis.
Here are the areas that will be affected by Autonomous Vehicles.
Millions of jobs that entail driving are at risk of being wiped out. Many focus upon the autonomous cars but more likely to be affected are truck and bus drivers. Automation technology does not really care about the size nor capacity of the vehicle.
Companies such as Amazon could save billions by solving the "last mile". Having the ability to transport products autonomously around the country would be a major boom for companies like this.
We tend to locate where the jobs are. People pay enormous amounts of money to be in the suburbs outside major cities in an effort to balance the work and personal life.
Not only is the work from home push going to change this but autonomous vehicles would really alter this. Many would find they could move further out if their commute was done without having to drive. This time could be spent doing other things such as reading, sleeping, or surfing the web.
This is a radical transformation. Many businesses outside the automobile industry will be affected. For example, malls are located based upon where people live and work. If they are working further out, they can easily bypass the mall and other retail locations.
If these vehicles are electric, which is likely because of the life of the cars, this will severely impact the oil industry.
Finally, businesses are going to have to alter how they advertise and market to people. At the same time, autonomous vehicles could bring the store to the customer by having it go where the individual is.
The most obvious impact is on traffic flow. Autonomous vehicles will be better able to communicate with other vehicles around them. This means traffic flow will be much faster and reliable than it is now. We also will see the elimination of traffic signs and stop lights.
New real estate will be found since parking lots will be freed up. There is no need for parking space throughout a city or in front of malls if people are being dropped off by autonomous vehicles.
Lanes can be narrower since an autonomous vehicle will have greater precision. This will not only increase efficiency but also safety.
Roughly half of the visits to the ER are automobile related. Our highways are littered with injuries (not to mention the deaths) resulting from cars banging into each other.
Autonomous vehicles will remove this. It is believed that more than 90% of all auto accidents are caused by human error.
This will also impact pharmaceutical companies as less medications are required as well as medical specialists such as back and pain management doctors.
These are a few of the major disruptions we will see. Others could include short-hop flights, motels, and the food industry.
Ultimately, like the smart phone, we are not sure where this all will lead.
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