OPEP

Re-thinking the "Driver-less" Revolution 

May be a decade ago, none of us would have ever imagined a car that can take us to places with the help of any driver. With the  increase  in  the needs and income levels of  the people  resulted  in high volume  of  sales  creating a  lucrative business opportunity. Despite the overall cool down of automotive demand globally, growth markets are expected to remain the main engine for volume 

growth in the automotive industry worldwide, driving an 18.8 million increase in vehicle assembly volumes from 2016 to 2023. Hence many major firms have started investing major chunk of their profits in the R&D department of their firms in their pursuit  for continuous improvement of the process and to improve the customer's experience.   

Autonomous car is one such innovation of the recent times. Experts perceive that it address the issues such as global gridlock and it's a leap in thinking for a viable future. Though many comprehend that it affects only automobile industry, in realty it has either direct or indirect influence on several other industries as well.

Cross-continental car trips don’t appear to be on the horizon anytime soon, but domestic and short-haul flights face a significant threat from self-driving cars. Once autonomous vehicles make car travel more convenient, many people will choose to take an on-demand car ride for shorter trips instead of going through the many hassles of air travel. Further, the average American drives 46 minutes each day, and without having to keep their eyes on the road, they’ll have plenty of time to consume news and entertainment. Broadcasters will compete to provide video content that travelers will be able to consume without risking their safety. For advertisers, it will also create a huge opportunity to present riders with location-based ads for nearby goods and services.

The need for long-term parking will decrease  as driver less car fleets move continuously between the various places. Owners of these spaces will reshape them in a way that creates value in a driver-less world.It’s not just parking garages — the ripple effects of self-driving cars will require the entire real estate industry to undergo a large-scale reimagination of how it allocates space.  A connected driver-less car network would theoretically be largely free 

from accidental collisions. As a result of decreased collisions, the healthcare industry could lose approximately $500B annually.

However, incase of any malfunction of the guiding system may result in an accident due to lack of human judgement. Also, what needs to be done incase of guiding system failure has to be taken care of. These sensitive issues need to be addressed.

So in future you can expect  that your car follows the smart parking system and talks to calendars  of everyone present in your office and helps you decide the best route to take home. We need to wait and see how it unfolds.