What should LA do for a self-driving car?
Have you ever thought about the benefits that a self-driving car can bring?
Here are 5 awesome benefits.
- Über price will decrease by 50%
According to the ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE(RMI) report, Über cost with driver is estimated at $ 2 per mile, but if operated without a driver, it will fall to $ 0.85 per mile.
2. You might not own your car.
As seen in the above picture, Über without a driver will cost the same as owning and driving your car. Will you still buy a car or take a driver-less Über?
3. Street can be free of parked car.
Self-driving car will be advised by the main control system that it should be parked in parking building. It is expected to be cheaper than a street parking. Street is no longer going to be stuck with parked cars.
4. Car accident will barely happen
According to the automotive lawyer Tom Manganello, self driving cars will reduce accidents by 60 to 90 percent if the technology becomes common.
5. You can use the time that could be wasted in driving
If you are in a self-driving car, what will you do? Do you want to read a book or Google something? Anyway, you can use time more effectively than wasting in driving.
Companies believe that the self-driving car technology will profit them. So, they have been competing hard to develop the technology first to gain a competitive edge and dominate the market in advance.
Google already succeeded in running self-driving car test of more than 2.3 million miles. Über started the world’s first automated taxi pilot in September 2016. In October 2016, in addition, Über’s automated truck delivered 5,000 Budweiser beer cans for 120 miles. GM merged the start-up called Cruise Automation in early 2016, which owns automated vehicle technology for $ 1 billion. Tesla set the price of the software that runs the automated navigation function at $ 8,000.
Government should support these companies developing such a high technology for the better life of people.
Let’s look in detail at what other countries have done for.
- Michigan state in U.S.A
On July 20, 2015, the state of Michigan created an 32 acres-sized ‘M city’, an test-bed for self-driving car on the north campus of the University of Michigan. M City is an area where self-driving cars can be along the road. And cars can practice to find an optimal driving route in conjunction with the road traffic network.
- Europe
The SARTRE project is worth noting. The official name of this project is ‘Safe Road Trains for the Environment’. The concept of this project is that many cars run in a cluster every 6m. The first car is driven by a professional driver. And from the second car, the driver does not need to drive. There is wireless communication between the first and following cars. If you want to join ROAD TRAIN, all you have to do is put the car at the end of the ROAD TRAIN and take your hands off the wheel. And then hand over the car control to ROAD TRAIN. If you want to get out of ROAD TRAIN, you just get the control of your car again. The important part is that this technology does not require any external systems.
- U.A.E
Masdar city is zero carbon, zero waste city built in U.A.E, which area is 2.317 mi². This city is designed to use renewable energy only. Masdar City has been operating a personal rapid transit(PRT) system. This PRT carries people without a driver. And more than 2 million passengers have used it until now without an accident.
What should L.A city do to help the development of a self-driving car?
- Build a test-bed
L.A needs to learn from the work of M-City. The University of Michigan built M-city, the world’s first controlled environment designed to test a self-driving car. M-city is a 32-acre simulated urban and suburban environment that includes a network of roads with intersections, traffic signs and signals, streetlights, sidewalks, building facades and construction obstacles. It is designed to support repeatable testing of new and innovative technologies before they go out to the public streets and highways. This test-bed could help Michigan to be a leader in advanced mobility technology. So far, Michigan became home for more than 370 automotive research centers. If self-driving car can be tested in the environment similar in L.A, it could be more familiar and safe to L.A people and will attract the research centers.
2. Support companies to develop the high technology
It is time to encourage cooperation and communication between automobile companies, IT companies, governments and university research institutes. The City of Los Angeles should organize a forum where these agencies can gather together to share various information and discuss cooperation. For bench-marking, it is also important to invite people, who are in charge of the self-driving car projects such as Europe’s SARTRE (SAfe Road TRains for the Environment), to the forum.
3. Replace the public transportation with self-driving car
City of Los Angeles can replace part of public transportation with self-driving cars. First, the city can adopt self-driving cars in a limited space like Masdar city for safety test. When proven safe, City of Los Angeles can replace parts of public transportation with autonomous vehicles. With this, L.A can be regarded as a leading place for high technology and L.A can attract a lot of tourists. Also, City of Los Angeles may offer the company to move R&D center to L.A on condition that City of Los Angeles be a major customer of the company’s self-driving car.
4. Address impacts on employment
Unemployment can be a serious social problem. Many people now make money with Über and other driving jobs. When self-driving cars become common, a lot of people would lose their jobs. But there will be no way not to accept self-driving cars. This would be like the Industrial Revolution. City of Los Angeles should prepare to help these people, provide the necessary training and connect them with new jobs.
5. Establish a mid & long term Master plan
The federal government has already created policies and guidelines for automated vehicles. The State of California is spurring a legal amendment to enable piloting of self-driving car. City of Los Angeles has to establish a mid- and long-term master plan to avoid policy overlapping with federal&state government. There are two points to note when setting up the master plan. The first one is that this should be consistent with existing government policies. Secondly, a lot of stakeholders should be involved. Various stakeholders such as companies, universities, government, and NGOs need to participate for the consensus on this master plan. This will help to clarify the roles for the private and public sector in realizing a self-driving car.
Traditional cars have been an important means of transportation in U.S for more than 100 years. But with the advent of innovative technology, the next generation of transportation, a self-driving car, might emerge within the next few years. I expect LA city to play a big role for it!
