John Leighton, managing director at Land Digital, explores the future of autonomous travel, revealing what could be in store when the worlds of technology and motors finally collide.

At one point in time, self-driving cars were just another cool sci-fi concept reserved for our imaginations (unless you were a young, sleek, crime-fighting David Hasselhoff, of course).

Yet, as technological advancements have evolved rapidly over the years, there has been a whole lot of talk and predictions about autonomous vehicles in the real world – how would they work and what benefits would they bring?

To date (and to the best of my knowledge), none of these predictions have come to pass just yet – at least not in the way they were envisioned. It’s been over 40 years since the first episode of Knight Rider and I still haven’t had a cohesive conversation with my car.

But, that’s not to say the dawn of autonomous travel isn’t almost upon us. San Francisco, for example, already has a fleet of self-driven vehicles that can take you from A to B within a specific area, completely autonomously. Think of them like the JohnnyCabs from Total Recall, but without the creepy robot driver in the front.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just another hip new addition to Silicon Valley, either. Sunderland recently unveiled a pilot programme trialling autonomous shuttle buses that will provide an additional service between the city centre and university by following a specific travel corridor containing a large number of 5G cells along the route to support its navigation system. How cool is that?

With these developments in mind, it’s safe to say that the wheels are definitely in motion for autonomous travel (and yes, that pun was very much intended). As a result, manufacturers are all rushing to create the first vehicle to achieve the highest level (5) of autonomy and, subsequently, be the first out on the roads. Yet despite Tesla and Google leading the way, it still isn’t clear who will be first past the line.

When this major breakthrough is made it will mark a huge technical step forward, but we must also keep in mind that the regulations and governance will almost certainly be trailing behind. So, when this time inevitably comes, what will the future of our roads look like and how will autonomous travel change the experience of travelling from A to B?

Man vs machine

Both human-driven and self-driven vehicles will be on the road at the same time and while the autonomous vehicle will likely come at a higher upfront cost, significantly lower insurance premiums will make these vehicles the more cost-effective option. Insurance is a rather efficient method of nudging us to change our behaviour because, to steal a song title from AC/DC, money talks.

So why would autonomous vehicles have cheaper premiums? Well, while accidents will inevitably occur regardless of whether or not a human is behind the wheel, the total number of accidents is likely to be greatly reduced. This is because the decision making in self-driving cars will always be consistent, compared to the unpredictability of a human behind the wheel. Let’s be honest, who hasn’t hit the lights on – um – amber, or forgotten to indicate when changing lanes?

But while we may think of this as simple human nature, the insurance companies consider it a payout waiting to happen. So, when this human decision making is replaced by a consistent set of rules for all scenarios – and not to mention the ability to improve on these rules based on experiences – this alternative will inevitably be seen as the safer (and therefore cheaper) option.

Of course, the other interesting implication of this is that driving a car yourself could become an activity exclusive to those who can afford to pay the higher insurance premiums. I don’t think the privilege of starting your own car engine is quite what ABBA had in mind when imagining all the things they could do with some money, money, money. (Is that the first time someone has referenced an AC/DC and ABBA song in the same article?)

Ownership

I mentioned that self-driving cars may come at a higher price point than their manual counterparts, but this raises an even bigger question: is ownership of an autonomous vehicle even required? If you’re not driving and you can be taken to your destination on demand, is there any need to actually own the car you hop in?

Now I know what you’re thinking: isn’t this just like Uber nowadays? But while the choice of whether you owned an autonomous car would reflect your own circumstances and requirements, if availability was consistent, this would likely cause a major shift in buying habits.

That’s because, without the requirement for a consistent supply of drivers, all we need is enough cars on the road. If autonomous vehicles are readily available as and when you need them, there are no busy periods, long waits, or struggles connecting to a driver like currently experienced with Uber.

As a result, having access to the ultimate pool car not only means that your vehicle spends a lot of time doing nothing, but also has the potential to bring huge economies of scale to the cost of being mobile.

Time

You’d be surprised at just how long we actually spend in a car travelling. For example, take a moment to think about how much time you spend driving, fuelling and parking each week. Now multiply that over an entire lifetime – we’re not talking days or months, but years!

With the introduction of autonomous vehicles, this is how much time that would suddenly be available to you. Imagine that. It’s the equivalent of finishing work a couple of hours early each day, or getting a three-day weekend at the end of each week.

Consider how stress-free travelling becomes in the process, too. Commuting to work? Just be outside at the correct time and hop in – easy as that. Travelling away for a break? Your holiday starts when the car pulls away, leaving you to kick back and relax – something that isn’t possible when faced with many hours on the M1.

Traffic management

Since I’ve mentioned stress, let’s take a second to imagine the impact autonomous travel would have on traffic management, too.

We’ve all been in this scenario: you’re stuck in traffic for ages and when it finally starts to disperse, you realise that there was nothing to cause the hold up. Instead, there had been an incident on the opposite side of the road, yet this caused the traffic flow to come grinding to a halt on both sides.

Or take filtering as another example. This dark art of the roads can bring even the most free-flowing roads to a complete halt, for what is often just mere metres of actual interruption. With autonomous vehicles, these instances would no longer occur. While these common traffic issues can cause us all sorts of problems, with self-driving cars, vehicles would be able to seamlessly adapt to the flow of traffic without ever having to come to a standstill.

Speed

Providing your autonomous vehicle isn’t Herbie The Love Bug, speeding would no longer be an issue. After all, you’re not in control.

The good news is that means no new points on your licence (if you even needed a licence anymore) and no more speed awareness courses to attend. Result.

The bad news? I’d expect a new fine to be introduced in order to make up for that lost revenue – and judging by some of the drivers on my commute to the office this morning, there would be a lot of lost revenue to recover.

This fine would likely be something that reflected our changing road habits and laws, like the need to keep your car cameras clean, for example.

Breakdowns

What happens when an autonomous vehicle breaks down? Will it still be as simple as checking under the hood, or will you require a degree in code to get you back on your way?

Well, the most likely scenario (particularly if you don’t own the car) is that a replacement service would be available to you very quickly, especially if you were part of a car club.

Picture this: an autonomous breakdown vehicle comes to take away the car with no human intervention, while the other cars on the road have all been made aware of the incident and have adjusted their trip accordingly, meaning that for all other travellers, the breakdown was not even noticed and barely slowed them down.

This would be very cool to see, and almost sounds like something out of a sci-fi film – granted, not a very exciting one, but you get my point.

Punctuality

OK, so we have more time, less traffic and fewer breakdowns all contributing to a far greater efficiency when travelling. So, what’s the downside?

Well, it all depends on how punctual you are right now. Transport and traffic have become a staple excuse for being late and while this is often the truth, these reasons can also sometimes be abused. But with autonomous vehicles, the validity of this excuse would quickly come into question – bad news for anyone guilty of hitting that snooze button one too many times.

That’s because, with autonomous cars, your vehicle could be connected to your calendar and even communicate with you via your phone (hey, turns out we aren’t too far away from KITT after all!)

With traffic flows now predictable, you could receive the specific timeframe needed to reach your destination, meaning that blaming the traffic for your poor punctuality would become about as effective as blaming the dog for eating your homework in the digital age.

The Beatles famously once sang, ‘baby, you can drive my car’, but it’s clear that in the coming years, it’s technology that’s ‘gonna be the star’.

While we can’t be sure exactly when the breakthrough will come and at what point the associated governance will enable mainstream global adoption, the dawn of autonomous travel is almost here.

And while, like any new tech, it likely won’t come without its hiccups, autonomous vehicles promise to completely re-imagine the way we travel and, as a result, revolutionise the way we live and work.*

*This is of course assuming that we won’t just be able to teleport everywhere by that point… now that would be cool.