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Indeed, at that point the USPS will have robotic delivery vehicles, and you will set your car on autopilot and simply tell it where you want it to go.
Of course, before all this happens we need some standardization and all the vehicles will need to be taking to each other while caring out your request for its intended destination - most of those working on these technologies agree with this reality.
Okay so, let's talk shall we? You see, there was an interesting article in ExtremeTech on July 4, 2012 which had an associated YouTube Video titled; "2012 Ford Traffic Jam Assist," which stated; "Traffic Jam Assist is a next-generation driving technology that enables cars to automatically keep pace with traffic flow.
It uses existing Ford technologies to monitor and interact with the vehicle's surroundings, and guide the vehicle in slow moving traffic independently.
" In the video however one has to ask the question if all the vehicles will have similar systems, if not, there may not be the value garnered that many are predicting.
Let me explain, but first go watch that video, and then come back to this article and let's talk.
You see, the day before that article appeared there was a report released by the "Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group for insurers," which indicated that "Lane-Departure" automobile technologies when offered on high-end cars actually statistically resulted in a higher number of accidents - by 10% which is statically impossible of being a coincidence.
See the USA Today article titled; "IIHS study: Lane departure systems could be dangerous," by James Healy in the Drive-On Section of the paper.
My think on the lane-departure technology report is this; It could be drivers that have these systems rely on the system more rather than driving the car, so it is an attention issue perhaps? More studies needed before making this statement.
Now then, once while driving in Scottsdale AZ a red-light camera signal, had turned yellow, and the car in front of me slammed on its breaks to avoid the ticket, even though there was plenty of time to get through the light and it was highly unsafe for them to stop.
They did, and I almost creamed him, but swerved and continued through the yellow light, with plenty of time on the signal to spare.
So, sometimes it is not the technology which is the problem but way the humans interact with it.
Another problem however in the future will be multiple different cars in heavy traffic all reacting to the reactions of the computerized assisted systems in the other cars, this could cause a worsened traffic problem rather than helping with increasing the "flow" of traffic.
If one car hits its breaks faster or using a different algorithm, then the others may not be able to adjust to that, as each car's system would have different behaviors - so, all cars need to be networked together and we need standardization.
And lastly, let's hope some hacker doesn't cause the software or those systems to go haywire and all the cars start crashing into one another, some with humans in them, others not.
Please consider all this and think on it.
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