THE AUTOMATED and ELECTRIC VEHICLES ACT 2018

The A&EV Act 2018 in the UK, makes provision for the insurance of self driving cars.

Each time that you drive a car, you are making a bet. The bet is that you will not get hit by other cars and nor will you strike other cars (along with averting hitting pedestrians, lampposts, etc.). What’s on the line is your life, the life of your passengers, and the lives of those other nearby drivers, their passengers, and any pedestrians in the vicinity of your car.

At some point, for most of us, the cognitive acumen needed to safely drive a car will likely wane. Likewise, the eye-to-hand coordination will potentially fade too. We all must face the potential reality that we might eventually reach a point in life that driving a car is no longer a suitable task to be performed.

THIS IS REFERRED TO AS RETIRING YOUR KEYS

If you have a loved one that has reached a point that it is time to have them retire their keys, the realization of this circumstance can be a tough pill to swallow. We all grow up with the notion that driving a car is a sign of being independent, being able to choose your own destiny, altogether coming and going as you please.

Traditionally, young adults have dreamed of the day that they can finally drive a car. This is a signal of maturity and more so a chance to showcase their freedom. It is nearly unimaginable that someday you would need to hand over your keys and no longer be a car driver.

You can add into the mix that many people simply enjoy the act of driving. They don’t need to be driving anywhere in particular. There is a visceral and joyful feeling that comes from steering a car and making it go from here to there. By retiring your keys, you are presumably giving up that act of enjoyment.

NOT SO SMART - The California Highway Patrol said it had arrested Param Sharma for reckless driving and disobeying a peace officer. The arrest came after videos circulated online of Sharma riding down the highway in the back seat. He had been cited for the same offense in April 2021, police said.

Sharma told KTVU he bought a Tesla with the Full Self-Driving package but seemed overly confident in the feature's abilities. The $10,000 advanced driver-assistance system — a step up from the standard Autopilot feature — enables a car to automatically change lanes, navigate highway on-ramps and exits, and recognize stop signs and traffic lights.

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF-DRIVING LEVELS OF CARS

As a clarification, true self-driving cars are ones that the AI drives the car entirely on its own and there isn’t any human assistance during the driving task.

These driverless vehicles are considered Level 4 and Level 5 (see my explanation at this link here), while a car that requires a human driver to co-share the driving effort is usually considered at Level 2 or Level 3. The cars that co-share the driving task are described as being semi-autonomous, and typically contain a variety of automated add-on’s that are referred to as ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems).

There is not yet a true self-driving car at Level 5, which we don’t yet even know if this will be possible to achieve, and/or how long it will take to get there.

For Level 4 and Level 5 true self-driving vehicles, there won’t be a human driver involved in the driving task. All occupants will be passengers. The AI is doing the driving. It's the same for boats, the plan is to have autonomous ships delivering our goods from far off lands and operating cruise liners. The technical problems to overcome are similar.

STOP PETROL & DIESEL SALES - 2030 TARGET

We have relied on petrol (gasoline) and diesel vehicles to now, but they have proved damaging to the environment and human health, in part causing global warming and lung cancer, making cities potentially unsafe. Autonomous vehicles will benefit from EVs being more popular, as they make better unmanned platforms.

The Cleaner Ocean Foundation aims to help provide a less polluted world for future generations, by decarbonizing land transport, so helping Governments to reach their sustainability development goals (SDGs).

#It's a whole new world, for drivers and vehicle makers, with driver and emission less electric vehicles taking you to your destination, potentially safer than if you were driving yourself. But, without automated service stations to keep them on the move. Whoops, cart before the horse again!

Volkswagen is planning to bring to market by 2025 a version of its upcoming microbus, a retro-styled electric van, with the ability to drive itself in certain circumstances, the automaker announced in May 2021.

VW is developing the vehicle with Argo AI, a Pittsburgh-based autonomous vehicle start-up backed by the German automaker and Ford Motor. Testing of the ID.Buzz vans to transport people and goods is expected to begin this summer in Munich, according to the companies.

"Our aim with the self-driving version of the ID.Buzz is to facilitate commercial deployment of transport and delivery services starting in 2025," Christian Senger, head of autonomous driving at VW's van unit, said in a press release. 

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