Where is The Driver ?

The Google self-driving car. Is it the future of motorisation ? When Karl Benz built his first car, “Motorwagen”, nobody was expecting his invention to totally change the world for the next years. About fifteen per cent of the vehicles that were sold last year, were powered only by electrical engines. Google goes further.

The company (actually, it is part of the new worlds biggest concern – Alphabet) they are mostly known for their search engine which you use to find out how they make jam and how this affects the Antarctic economy. Now Google wants to promote the car which wouldn’t need a driver and be totally safe. After all, the computer systems don’t drink alcohol and race the other males to impress the girls.

Traffic crashes are the primary cause of death worldwide for people aged between 15-24 and during a crash, 40% of drivers never even hit the brakes. We are constructed from water in 70%, the cars and barriers are made from metal and even speeds of 50km/h makes your car a few times heavier.

The Google car was intentionally designed to look adorable. Our brains are used to treating inanimate (or animate) objects with greater care and caution when they look more like a living thing. Women will love it. On the other hand, if you are a man, your friends, with their Mustangs and BMW’s, would never stop laughing at your little toy.

A vehicle has most problems with situations which are difficult for all of us, such as going through the four-way stops or yellow light (should I stop or run the light?).

“When the road was cleared and it was safe to turn right, the car didn’t budge. I thought this was a bug at first, but when I looked to my right there was a pedestrian standing very close to the curb, giving the awkward body language that he was planning on jaywalking” – said one of the Google car testers.

So Google still have a lot work to do. Although, before you can say that self-driving cars don’t have any future, find photos of vehicles from before First World War. Are they similar to yours ?

We have to be optimistic and hope, that one day, we will be able to lend a car to our blond wifes and they will not scratch them.