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Driverless Cars Set to Save World Economies Billions – World Study

Traffic accidents cost world economies billions each year, but with the development of autonomous driving technologies these costs could be reduced dramatically.

Autonomous driving technologies are revolutionising the automotive industry with their promise to improve vehicle safety and reduce traffic accidents, but what is the monetary impact of this on GDP? Experts at Global Positioning Specialists (GPS) have revealed how much GDP could be saved through driverless cars in 73 countries.

GPS combined the percentage of GDP lost to traffic accidents with the total GDP of each country alongside the percentage that driverless tech could reduce traffic accidents to calculate both the total GDP lost to traffic accidents each year and the amount of GDP that driverless technology could save.

Top 20 Countries Where Driverless Tech Could Save Billions:

GDP lost to traffic accidents

Source :www.gps.com.au

The US topped the list of 73 countries, where over $340bn is lost to traffic accidents each year, the largest amount of GDP lost in the world. If all vehicles in the US were driverless, the amount of GDP lost could be substantially reduced. In particular, GDP lost to traffic accidents could be cut by over $306bn a year, making the roads considerably safer.

While the US lose the most GDP to traffic accidents, South Africa has the highest percentage of GDP lost to traffic accidents in the world (7.8%), but because of a much lower GDP, South Africa ranked 13th, where driverless tech could have reduced lost GDP by over $21bn.

The UK and Australia, ranking 8th and 9th respectively, both lose over $28bn GDP to traffic accidents each year. Driverless cars could save the UK and Australia over $25bn each year.

Lucile Michaut, head of GPS comments: “This research has two facets to it, on the one hand there is the amount of money which we spend on accidents each year, which in itself is interesting. Then you realise how many of these accidents could be avoided with new driverless technology. Governments will never spend on investing in things like this unless there is concrete evidence, but here we have proved there are strong economic reasons to invest in driverless technology, as well as the obvious improvement to public safety.”

World Data:

Sources: WHO Global Report on Road Safety 2015, World DataBank Gross Domestic Product 2015, and McKinsey & Company How Autonomous Cars Could Redefine The Automotive World 2016
Global Positioning Specialists

Security

The issues faced by carmakers struggling to make regular cars secure against hacks…

A good article in the MIT Technology Review discusses the issues faced by carmakers struggling to make regular cars secure against hacks and how self-driving technology will be accompanied by new problems.

Trucking and Logistics

Trucking companies are preparing to invest in driverless technology which could cut costs by nearly half and improve safety

According to recent reports, trucking companies are preparing to invest in driverless technology which could cut costs by nearly half and improve safety. The trucking company Toll Group has already kitted out many of its 3,000 vehicles with semi-autonomous gadgetry like lane-change sensors and cruise control. Toll and other trucking firms are flying to the Netherlands in April to watch a driverless truck trial. The country wants autonomous road trains sending cargo from Rotterdam, Europe’s biggest port, throughout the continent by 2019. Early efforts in the field are focused on ‘platooning’, where trucks cut wind resistance and lower fuel costs by travelling in close procession. A manned front vehicle controls gas and brakes for the others using radio signals. Other benefits can also be attained from going fully driverless. Removing driver compartments will allow for more cargo space and the elimination of air conditioning units. There will also be no need for rest stops, meaning trucks can continue driving until they reach their destinations. The cuts in wage and fuel bills could be very significant. The US road freight business alone was worth $700bn (£489bn) in 2014, according to the American Trucking Associations.

Amazon.com is now eyeing the high seas in its pursuit to handle more of the logistics of package delivery. The move speaks to the company’s broader ambitions to take the reins of shipping and delivery from traditional players. It is rolling out its own branded semi-trucks, considering leasing cargo planes, and experimenting with drones to get packages to customers quickly and inexpensively.

Today, a hodge-podge of companies are duking it out for the highly fragmented $160 billion business of arranging cargo shipments, meaning Amazon could potentially pick up market share quickly. As a result, a host of startups are also trying to modernize freight forwarding, and have picked up Silicon Valley venture-capital backing. Those startups include Flexport, which in August landed a $20 million funding round.

Insurance

11 major insurers have formed a group in the UK to discuss the industry response to the onset of autonomous driving and represent the industry.

11 major insurers have formed a group in the UK to discuss the industry response to the onset of autonomous driving and represent the industry. Aviva, Axa, LV, Zurich Direct Line and Admiral are among the 11 insurers.

In Canada, Aviva announced that it will be offering ride-sharing car insurance, starting with the Ontario market. Product highlights:

Coverage available for drivers spending up to 20 hours a week participating in ride-sharing
Cost for coverage will be calculated by driving record, time spent ride-sharing
Inexpensive – it will amount to a fraction of the income drivers earn through ride-sharing
Maximum of 8 passengers
Driver is licensed a minimum of 6 years
No other commercial usage

Driverless integration, projects around the world

The first driverless cars that will be tested on the streets of London will resemble the electric passenger shuttles currently being used at Heathrow Airport

News coming out of the UK reveal that the first driverless cars that will be tested on the streets of London will resemble the electric passenger shuttles currently being used at Heathrow Airport. The vehicles will be the result of three British organizations coming together: Westfield Sportscar, Heathrow Enterprise and Oxbotica.

Driverless electric shuttle buses will begin testing in The Netherlands in the coming days. These low-speed buses (without a steering wheel) will be used in mixed traffic.

For all those jurisdictions soliciting Google for a piece of the driverless testing pie, some news over the last few days. It appears as though, in addition to testing in Silicon Valley and Austin, TX, Google has selected four more sites for testing in the US. It seems likely that Ann Arbor, MI will be one of these four sites. In addition, it looks like Google is looking at testing its vehicles in the Nordic climate conditions of Austria. Autocluster AC Styria has apparently signed a letter of intent with Google.

Also testing in snowy winter conditions is Ford. The company is reportedly testing its driverless technology in Michigan.

Nevada has granted Kia and Hyundai permission to gest driverless vehicles on the state’s roads.

In an industry first, Tesla Motors announced that it has equipped many of its cars with the ability to park themselves — as the driver stands outside. To move down the driverless path, Tesla will reportedly hire 4,500 employees for its autonomous driving work. Elon Musk is confident that Tesla will have fully autonomous vehicles by 2017.

Driverless delivery vehicles will be trialled in London as soon as 2017.

Government planning required

Planning will be required to minimize the potential negative impacts associated with fully autonomous vehicles, including increased vehicle km travelled.

The Tennessee General Assembly has introduced a bill creating a per mile tax structure for autonomous vehicles. That’s already further ahead than most jurisdictions.

And in the Canadian landscape, the Mayor of Saskatoon, Don Atchison, stresses the need for his city to plan for autonomous vehicles. Nice thinking Mr. Atchison!

Planning will be required to minimize the potential negative impacts associated with fully autonomous vehicles, including increased vehicle km travelled.

Governments positioning to reap the economic benefits

The big news of the last few weeks came from US Transportation Secretary Foxx…

After the Government of Ontario introduced regulations allowing for the testing of driverless vehicles on the province’s roads and highways, cities like Windsor and Stratford are rightly demonstrating an interest in becoming host sites. These municipalities understand the economic benefits that accompany such testing.

In addition to M-City, the State of Michigan is developing a 330-Acre autonomous vehicle test site.

And the big news of the last few weeks came from US Transportation Secretary Foxx who announced that the Obama administration is proposing to spend nearly $4 billion in a decade to accelerate the acceptance of driverless cars on U.S. roads. Some highlights:

10-year, $4 billion push to spark the development of self-driving cars
unified national regulations on self-driving cars
work with state governments and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators within six months to develop cohesive state regulations for autonomous vehicles.

The announcement by Transportation Secretary Foxx was well received by developers of driverless technology, particularly after the draft deployment regulations released on December 16^th, 2015 by the California DMV. The Department is currently holding consultations before it finalizes these regulations.

Positioning for future mobility

The city of Los Angeles and Xerox announced a new pilot project that roles public and private transportation options into one custom mobile app for the city, Go LA…

The city of Los Angeles and Xerox announced a new pilot project that roles public and private transportation options into one custom mobile app for the city, Go LA. Users of the free app will be able first to select what kind of transportation options they’re interested in (Motorcycles? The ridesharing company du jour? Whatever’s around?), then sort the results by what’s fastest, cheapest or greenest. Xerox, which is footing the bill for the initial pilot, also hopes to roll out payment and scheduling capabilities.

GM announced the creation of product team for autonomous vehicles and technology.

A new report reveals that a driverless taxi program is already underway in Seoul, South Korea, and has been driving students in a campus for six months with absolutely no accidents.

Ford announced that it is tripling its fleet of autonomous vehicles in 2016, upping its total to 30 test vehicles on the road. It is also announcing a novel integration with Amazon: Ford’s in-car software will soon connect with connected-home devices, especially its Amazon Echo.

More collaborations have been announced. Here are some:

Volvo Cars and Ericsson are developing intelligent media streaming for self-driving cars.
Samsung is reportedly teaming up with BMW to develop the brains of the self-driving vehicle. In December 2015, Samsung announced that it set up a new team to target the car market. The company has been eyeing the fast-growing market for automotive components, software and services, estimated to be worth about $500 billion.
The Chinese company Baidu is reportedly ramping up efforts to develop its autonomous vehicle unit in a bid to compete with other tech giants. As part of its efforts, it is partnering with BYD, the Chinese vehicle manufacturer.
Ford announced a collaboration with QNX, hoping to create an industry standard for integrating smartphone apps into cars. The two companies will work together to help drivers stay connected while keeping their eyes on the road. Hmmm …doesn’t sound to safe to us. Despite the fact that Blackberry (through QNX) has been in the autonomous vehicle space for a number of years, it appears that this technology will become a greater focus of the company’s efforts.
And, by the way, the much-rumoured driverless partnership between Google and Ford never came to fruition.

In India, Tata plans to launch the country’s first indigenous driverless vehicle.

And with news that was to be expected, Google will reportedly be making its self-driving car unit an Alphabet Company in 2016.

The Consumer

A poll undertaken in Canada shows that Canadians are split with the issue of driverless vehicles.

The information that is shared by smart cars about the drivers has caught the attention of Canada’s privacy watchdog. This will increasingly be an issue going forward. Governments should start determining who owns the data as well as who can use the data and how.

A poll undertaken in Canada shows that Canadians are split with the issue of driverless vehicles. You will find here some of the statistics.

At the end of last year, a survey of UK motorists stated that 39% of them would consider using a driverless vehicle.

CES 2016: A look at the future of mobility

Obviously, lots to see and experience related to mobility. From drones to autonomous vehicles, a walk through the Las Vegas Convention confirmed that we will see more changes in mobility before the end of this decade than we have over the last fifty years.

Some of the members of the Transportation Evolution Institute attended the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Thanks to our friends from BlackBerry who made it happen!

Expect the dashboard to be converted to an enormous screen and the front windshield to be extremely intelligent with integrated GPS and more.

Drones, drones and more drones of every size imaginable – from the hardly perceptible to the heavy duty.

More EV models from more manufacturers are on their way.

Despite the hype, we were disappointed with the Faraday Future vehicle. Yes, it made an impression but more concrete, pragmatic would have been appreciated.

The vehicle is being re-designed to accommodate more comfortable long-distance travel, meetings and comfortable workspaces. VW is also thinking that its e-Buddy will also accommodate drone deliveries.