How Will Autonomous Vehicles Change Your Life?

To mark National Autonomous Vehicle Day, we look at five concrete ways in which self-driving vehicles stand to change the lives of people around the world.

National Autonomous Vehicle Day: How AVs Will Change Your Life

May 31 is designated in the United States as National Autonomous Vehicle Day. This year we’re marking the occasion by looking at five concrete ways in which the daily lives of average people across the country and around the world stand to be affected for the better by the advent and widespread adoption of fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) – a long-held dream that’s rapidly approaching reality.

1) Self-driving Mobility-as-a-Service

Mobileye, Moovit, and their partners around the world are bringing self-driving mobility services to a city near you

Your next ride-share trip could very well be in an AV. Self-driving mobility services, due to be introduced in cities around the world in the coming years, will take you where you need to go, autonomously. Mobileye and Moovit are already working on bringing self-driving Mobility-as-a-Service to locations including France, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, and South Korea… with more expected to follow.

2) Autonomous Delivery

The Mobileye Drive™ self-driving system can enable autonomous delivery vehicles like the Udelv Transporter

All that stuff you order online? Don’t be surprised if it arrives autonomously at your doorstep in the near future in a self-driving delivery vehicle. Like the Udelv Transporter, which is slated to employ Mobileye Drive™ in order to carry out middle- and last-mile delivery of goods across the United States, starting as soon as 2023.

3) Democratizing Mobility

Self-driving vehicles will democratize mobility for all – including the young, the old, and people with disabilities

The use of a conventional private motor vehicle requires the financial means to acquire one, and the license and ability to operate it. The arrival of autonomous vehicles will change that.

By removing the driver from the equation, private (or semi-private) vehicular transport will be available for use by children, the elderly, people with disabilities… pretty much anyone – whether on demand or permanently on call. That in and of itself will represent the democratization of mobility and a historical development that stands to rival the domestication of the horse, the building of the railroad, the advent of the automobile, and the innovation of the assembly line.

4) Freeing Up Time

Autonomous vehicles will leave commuters with more time for other things, like entertainment and creativity

Drivers spend an inordinate amount of their time stuck in traffic behind the steering wheel – and the problem is only getting worse as traffic increases and infrastructure struggles to keep up. But in self-driving vehicles, occupants will be free to relax, enjoy some entertainment, and increase their creativity and productivity while the autonomous vehicle does the driving for you. Just imagine the possibilities!

5) They Already Are!

Self-driving technologies are already trickling down to human-driven vehicles with the latest advanced driver-assistance systems

Perhaps the most immediate answer to the question of how AVs will change your life is that they already are. The advanced driver-assistance systems in production cars today – including tens of millions of vehicles fitted with Mobileye ADAS – represent the building blocks of AV technology.

As integrated ADAS features like Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) evolve and improve, the line between ADAS and AV will continue to blur into a spectrum – distinguished not by their capabilities but by the level of trust we’re collectively prepared to place in the hands of technology as it proves its reliability, robustness, and safety.