From Autonomous / Self-Drive Cars to Gardening

Well, I know a couple of us (possibly over a pint or several) have talked the rise and future of the self driving electric car to death. I don't have a pint to hand but here's a recap!

Self driving cars are already here (single lane - follow, etc), and full on city driving ones will be here and and on the road in the next couple of years. The results are likely to be

• 5 years or so and they will be common place
• 10-15 years or so and they will be the main-stay of road users - inter-car comms and coordination will be common place too - car "trains / chains" and much more efficient use of our road networks will be possible
• the infrastructure for the comms bit is already here and everywhere (fast mobile networks)
• the likes of Uber will mean self drive taxis will be here soon and will be cheap(er)
• as soon as the insurance companies realise that they are way safer than human drivers, you'll pay through the nose to drive your own car, so what's the point in owning one to drive?
• "pay as you go" ownership will sharp become more common
• 15 years and who will be sitting a driving test?
• Traffic congestion will improve massively over that time due to the decline of car ownership and the improved effiency of road usage - no more ever-wider roads needed, just ones that support autonomous cars better

There's a whole load of stuff that's already made this possible

• Self driving commitments from the likes of Google, Ford, Volvo, Tesla, Uber, etc
• Companies like Volvo agreeing up-front to accept any liability on accidents (proven to be) caused by the car in self-drive
• Battery technology coming on leaps and bounds - charge times plummeting
• Cars able to charge themselves (I still find this disturbing)
• Cars basically needing no human interaction at all (the existing Tesla X and the planned Ford with no manual driving controls at all)

The stuff I didn't think of, even after pint number 5 was

• The decline in car ownership will lead to much less parking around the streets
• You're probably not going to need a driveway in 20 years
• All the houses that have 2-3 car driveways can convert them back to gardens again
• There'll be a huge upsurge in gardening! Woohoo!
• You'll be able to "drive" to the pub and have a drink! Maybe it will be the rise of small country pubs again! Woohoo!
• Road rage will be a thing of the past. Woohoo!
• Less stress from driving combined with better health from gardening lots. Woohoo!

Time to become a landscape gardener or to be a garden center owner!