These days, it looks as if persons are spending quite a lot of time pondering what society might be like post-Coronavirus. Whereas everyone seems to be craving going again to the world we knew, we’re additionally acknowledging that the world won’t ever be the identical. I respect that there have been many articles (like this one and this one) that current a number of the societal shifts that would occur on account of this pandemic and I figured I’d take it a step farther and see what it’d imply within the driverless trade. Listed below are a number of the huge tendencies (related to driverless automobiles) that I’m seeing:

• Automobile gross sales are shifting to an internet market (hyperlink right here);
• Purchasing for groceries, garments, and all the things else is massively shifting on-line, which is lowering our particular person automobile possession, however placing heavy reliance on items supply (hyperlink right here);
• Since workplaces are encouraging working remotely, purchasing has largely shifted on-line, and most public locations are closed, persons are driving a lot much less (hyperlink right here);
• Individuals are scared to trip public transit and take shared rides because of the shut proximity to others (link right here);

Whereas many of those adjustments are out of necessity at this time, it’s very potential that they are going to instill long-term change. So what does this imply for driverless automobiles?  It’s clear persons are anticipating the driverless supply of products, which is a superb alternative for constructing shopper acceptance for driverless automobiles, on the whole. And this huge discount in car miles traveled (VMT) is reminding individuals of a cleaner, safer world – may this create longer-term impacts? Higher environmental insurance policies? However, this doesn’t bode properly for shared, driverless rides – although I’m hopeful this isn’t a long-term influence.

I hope our society will be considerate about how we re-open our society…not simply close to the sharing of germs, however with our insurance policies, our companies, and our particular person practices. Let’s take into consideration the world we would like and turn out to be proactively attempt to make it occur. Shared, electrical, driverless automobiles – how will we get there? Encourage shared rides, incentivize electrical car utilization, create supportive driverless laws, discourage single occupancy car utilization (and car possession, on the whole), and proceed to show and talk driverless car success tales. Whereas the know-how continues to be superior, these are all essential foundational components.