Self-driving cars: Are we there yet?

Industry insiders compare the quest for autonomous driving to a modern day space race.

Whether you call them self-driving or autonomous cars. There is hardly a discussion about the automotive industry today that does not lead into this topic.
And for good reason.
The shift to autonomous vehicles will be monumental; perhaps the biggest thing to happen to personal transport since we swapped the reins for a steering wheel.
Industry insiders compare the quest for autonomous driving to a modern day space race. Companies are investing billions to develop the technology that can bring the dream of self-driving cars to life. And it is not another gadget to lure potential customers into buying a new product - it will have a fundamental impact on our society.
The daily commute where we could spend time on more productive things rather than concentrating on traffic. The daily chore of driving our children to school, sports practice, or piano classes.
The significant impact on the mobility and quality of life for our elderly when they are no longer capable of driving. All these challenges to our society can be improved by the introduction of autonomous vehicles.
And it will be a safer and more efficient ride. By removing the possibility for human error behind the wheel, we have the potential to reduce the number of accidents by up to 90 per cent. We would also increase the carrying capacity of roads, since vehicles could travel closer together safely, and at higher speeds.
From that perspective it is not a surprise, that according to research, 70 per cent of UAE residents are open to the idea of using autonomous vehicles, and the government has signalled its intent for 25 per cent of its transportation to be autonomous by 2030.
While the change to fully-autonomous driving will not happen overnight, we can already see it taking effect. Autonomous cars are already being successfully integrated into real-world environments, in California, Michigan and Arizona in our testing programmes.
In the meantime, vehicle-to-vehicle technologies and advanced safety and navigation features will continue to find their way into vehicles for us to drive. As more of these technologies develop and become available, we'll see mainstream cars evolve. Think of cars that can stop themselves automatically if a pedestrian unexpectedly walks onto the road; cars that keep themselves in their lane; cars that can basically parallel park themselves accurately without holding up traffic. It may come as a surprise to some, but these features are becoming more accessible and are already available in the UAE.
The technologies used in features like pedestrian front automatic braking, lane keep assist, and semi-automatic parking lay the foundation for self-driving technologies to build on. They are the precursors for autonomous driving, as we want to get to know it.
As a society, we are looking forward to the day when drivers' licences become a thing of the past, when traffic can flow easily, and accidents become a rare occurrence. But like impatient young ones buckled up in the back seat, we find ourselves asking "are we there yet?"
To which the answer is, well, no, but we're nearly there.
The writer is managing director for Middle East commercial operations at General Motors Middle East. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.