Self-driving cars are an idea of the future, right?
We’ve seen all the futuristic movies where cars drive and park themselves (right before they take over the world), but it may surprise you to hear the future is closer than you think.
Google invented a self-driving car that has already racked up over 140,000 miles and you could have driven next to it without even knowing it, according to TIME (of course Google superstitiously has a robotic car driving all over the country. It’s all part of their plan to take over the world.)
Before you go out and pre-order your own, you should be aware that the idea is still in it’s research and development phase. Currently, Google’s car has about $150,000 of equipment on it, and that’s before the company tries to turn a profit.
Commercial self-driving cars are eons away:
It’s going to be a long time before these things are on the road, and not for reasons that you may think. People like driving their cars, according to Doug Aamoth of TIME. There’s going to be hefty political battles and legislation debating whether or not driverless cars are safe and legal and people will be uncomfortable adopting the idea into their lives. But one day, not far in the future, people will have the same debate questioning whether it’s safe and legal to still allow humans to drive cars.
Mark the date, friends, the future is here:
[Featured Image Credit: New York Times]