Self-Driving Cars Are Coming: What To Know

It looks like the future is almost here. The reports about testing of self-driving or autonomous cars have been flooding in for the past several years and now it is looking like we really may not be that far away from a system in which your car would let you hang out and play a game of cards with your buddies while it takes the wheel and drives you down the interstate.

But, there are questions still to be answered? Most significantly, perhaps, what would be the overall impact on the current automobile infrastructure and culture? How are our road and traffic systems equipped to work with autonomous vehicles? What will the effect be on your local auto shop? Will you be buying your next self-driving car from Chevrolet, or Google?

All of these questions are important. But, at the top of the list is the impact on the safety of American drivers across the country. Some experts have come forward saying that these vehicles could significantly reduce impacts, accidents and collisions on the road, thus limiting the need for car repair and hopefully also reducing injuries and fatalities which currently plague the current auto-dominated culture in America.

But, critics say that any mitigation of the accidents that may occur on our roads and streets will rely on a smart implementation of the technology and assume that the vehicles won’t be affected by the same bugs and issues that often characterize new technology releases in other sectors. If you buy a new iPhone and it can’t send email due to a bug, you may be a bit miffed at Apple. But, if you buy a new car from Google and the brakes kick in 3 seconds late, you may be looking at an expensive car repair at best and a long stay in the hospital at worst.

Still, at your local auto shop, Fort Collins Foreign Car Service, we can see some of the benefits should the technologies work the way they are designed. Traffic congestion could potentially be reduced and accidents as well. Not to mention the chances of human driver error are certainly as real as those from a computer driven car and with time the autonomous vehicles may actually overtake human drivers in terms of smart driving decisions.