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Senior Citizens Will Lead the Self-Driving Revolution (theverge.com)
The Villages in Florida -- home to 125,000 residents, over 54,000 homes, 32 square miles, 750 miles of road, and three distinct downtowns -- will soon get a fleet of robot taxis. "Voyage, a startup that has been operating a handful of self-driving cars in the San Jose, California-based retirement community also called The Villages, announced today that later this year it will expand to the much-larger Villages north of Orlando," reports The Verge. "This is thanks to a successful Series A fundraising round that raked in $20 million in 2017." From the report: It's an indication that, strangely enough, many of the first people to fully experience the possibilities presented by self-driving cars will be over the age of 55. Most experts agree that robot cars will first roll out as fleets of self-driving taxis in controlled environments -- college campuses, business parks, dedicated freeway lanes, city centers, or retirement communities. Self-driving startups get to boast about providing a real service for people in need, while seniors get to lord over their grandchildren about being early adopters of a bold new technology. They're also getting something a little more valuable: Voyage is giving the owners of The Villages and the smaller San Jose development equity stakes of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, according to The Information. Voyage's self-driving cars aren't fully driverless. Safety drivers will remain behind the wheel just in case there's a need to intervene. And to compliment its digital mapping capabilities, the startup says it will partner with Carmera, a 3D mapmaker for autonomous vehicles. This type of partnership is necessary for what Voyage believes is "the largest deployment (by area size) of self-driving cars in the world."
Will seniors trust them?
Many seniors engage in evidence-based-reasoning. If data shows SDCs are safe, and they have a lower accident rate than HDCs, then they will trust them.
What about disabled young people like me? :(
Young people tend to just go with the crowd. So if their Facebook friends trust SDCs, so will they.
In fact, most accidents were caused by non-Senior Citizen drivers
In total, or per mile driven ?
It will be safer. There will be a button that drives you to the nearest hospital or police station probably. This is better than "senior dies at the wheel causes 12 car pile up". Besides, if your Apple Watch can already track your heartbeat I'm sure the car will know if your vital signs are abnormal and recommend help. It is most definitely progress.
Will seniors trust them?
Many seniors engage in evidence-based-reasoning. If data shows SDCs are safe, and they have a lower accident rate than HDCs, then they will trust them
Really? I tend to find they flatly reject anything that's not part of their already established worldview.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
The elderly & the blind (vision impaired) are all early candidates
Exactly. I don't understand why the authors of the article find it strange that the early adopters of self driving cars are people who have problems driving themselves. For them, there's a clear business case that justifies the expense. The fact that the Villages is a closed community filled with prospective clients makes it a perfect candidate for a pilot. Not strange at all...
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...