Autonomous vehicles are the use of technology to partially or entirely replace the human driver in navigating a vehicle. There are 5 different levels 0 the driver is in complete control, 1 one or more primary automated features (cruise control), 2 two or more primary features that work together to make driving easier, 3 vehicles have control when a safety critical function is triggered, 4 vehicle has control when a safety critical function is triggered and can perform all aspects of driving even if the driver doesn't respond to a request to intervene, 5 doesn't need a driver present and can navigate and perform to road conditions.
There are lots of different elements that would make autonomous vehicles functional. They would need a lot of work not just with programming but with their tracking system as well, some of them listed in this article are Ultrasonic Sensors, Global Positioning Systems, Light Section and Ranging, Cameras, Radio Detection and Ranging, Infrared Sensors, Inertial Navigation Systems, and Dedicated Short-Range Communication.
The two main leaders in the autonomous vehicles field in 2021, are North America and China, these are the two areas that are investing the most to make this dream possible. There are the other most popular vehicle manufacturers that are also looking at the possibility of autonomous vehicles like Audi, BMW, Nissan and the list goes on.
With the different areas of autonomous vehicles, the two areas that will first become available will be taxis and trucks. Rob-Taxi is expected to be readily available by 2030 and Trucking between 2028 and 2030. There are lots of these that can hold this process back as well like the rules surrounding autonomous vehicles which also in many places have not been written yet, as it's such an up-and-coming thing.
https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/mobility/autonomous-vehicles-factsheet
https://www.mckinsey.com/features/mckinsey-center-for-future-mobility/our-insights/autonomous-vehicles-moving-forward-perspectives-from-industry-leaders
When autonomous vehicles start being commonly adopted into society it will dramatically impact lots of areas, especially the economy. The digital economy has grown so much in the past decade from going to the shop to ordering it with next-day delivery. The impact autonomous vehicles will have will be widespread and impact all areas, in the US transport sector $1.9 trillion is predicted to adopt autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles are not just taxis or you going to work it is trucking, drones, deliveries, agricultural, and other small home robots.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3653468
There are going to be lots of issues with autonomous vehicles they will require lots of time and money spent on them. But if they are made right they will dramatically change how everyone travels. There was a study done looking at how older adults with cognitive impairment interact with the autonomous vehicles interface. There is always an aging population but as the world changes it increases and decreases, in America, the population aged 65 and older is predicted to grow from 58 million in 2021 to 88 million by 2050, by this time autonomous vehicles will be publicly available and with 10 to 20% being effective with cognitive impairment they will need to be adapted to be understood by them. There are two main issues with this group of people using this system they have not grown up using this technology which creates this distrust of it and how they are interacting with the technology. They are struggling with the interface and it will have to be adaptive to make it useable for them.
The study revealed that with their cognitive impairment, they need the interface altered to make it useable, with familiar terminology, extra reminders, and very easily navigated apps. This is a really interesting study that raises valid areas of concern and autonomous vehicles will have to be very aware of this, an idea I had about this issue is when onboarding the app allow for it to be customisable allowing for a more accessible version that when booking the vehicle will display the system that has been set up when onboarding allowing for a very easily navigated version and then for someone not facing these issues that they can have their customisable interface to their needs like specify entertainment, or doing work on the go.
When researching I was also on LinkedIn and came across this from the Nielsen and Norman Group which emphasises the differences in ages and the areas that would need to be addressed for each of them. There is another study that I looked at that compares the acceptance of autonomous vehicles with people who did and didn't have visual impairments, the slight loss is more common than people assume with 10% of Europeans experiencing some over their lifetime, this affects their lives dramatically in lots of different ways but travel can be a large aspect of this. The study involved 114 visually impaired people and 117 of non visually impaired. The results show that autonomous vehicles can dramatically affect the lives of visually impaired people improving their quality of life and increasing their independence.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17483107.2024.2317930?needAccess=true