While governments around the globe pour billions into expensive 'rapid transit', primarily for daily commuters, the private sector and researchers are pouring billions into the 'rapid movement' of people, goods and services. As we learn about the relatively simple experiments of drone pizza delivery services, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and at the University of Singapore are taking their research of driverless vehicle technology to sidewalks with the development of autonomous scooters. Of course, companies such as Google (Waymo LLC) and Tesla are doing the same, but for roadworthy vehicles instead of sidewalks. Moving people autonomously is closely becoming commonplace.
But what about moving people on a larger scale? Somehow we are comfortable with the autonomous delivery of the pizza along the sidewalk, or even perhaps a pizza delivery by a small drone to our doorstep, but will we be OK with strapping grandma into a drone seat (and sending her into the air) at the local drone arrival and departure station?
While today it seems natural that airplane passengers are pleased when we know that our pilots are sitting in their cockpits while taking off, flying and landing, even while on 'auto pilot'. Would it be safe to assume that in the future we will accept riding in a car that is moving in autonomous mode with no one in the driver’s seat?
We are all aware that Google and Tesla (amongst others) have cars that are operating reasonably well and driving completely autonomously. The traditional manufacturers of Toyota, Audi, Ford and Nissan are all advancing their driverless initiatives and indeed it likely quite advanced. Assuming the legislative framework can keep up with the technological advances (and it won’t), such transportation methods are soon to be real-world in many jurisdictions. It is conceivable that delivery by drones to our door step will soon compete with the delivery of packages by autonomous vehicles. Delivery companies like FedEx and Amazon will have to face new forms of competition not contemplated by most of us a decade ago. Moving goods and services, without a doubt, will look different again in 10 years.
In the mean time, cities around the globe (including in Alberta) grapple with pouring billions into expensive 'rapid transit', primarily for daily commuters. Bike lanes, dedicated bus lanes and LRT has been the talk of the last 25 years. And while the innovative minds of Silicon Valley have solved many of our everyday life problems and introduced a lot to give us our conveniences, they are just now providing solutions to the world for one of our biggest headaches; rush hour. The time of solving that issue may be sooner than we think.
Yup, strap into your autonomous scooter, strap into your autonomous drone, strap into your human taxi. A new meaning of the words “buckle up” has arrived.
