MCity and the Driverless Car
Has anyone ever heard of MCity Michigan before? Well by the year 2020 everyone will have at least heard of this completely empty, un-populated, yet minutely detailed place. MCity is a 32-acre fabricated environment that was built with the sole purpose of testing the driverless car. There are fire hydrants, stop signs, building facades and of course roads, and very soon there will be mechanized population of pedestrians and cyclists.
Why populate the faux city? Well it is easier to test different situations and trouble shoot potential problems when you can replicate a particular situation over and over again. It also would violate several health and safety codes to send a 3-ton robot 60 miles an hour at a living human being. The Mobility transformation center along with the Michigan Department of Transportation and Technology has partnered with 48 other organizations including General Motors, State Farm and Verizon (but not Google or Uber), in an effort to get this movement off the ground as quickly as possible. As many officials have stated this is a massive undertaking with many potential pitfalls and problems that is going to require the efforts of every facet of the transportation and automotive industries.
The idea of driverless vehicles is not a new one but it is one that we are very much on the verge of seeing implemented. Many suspect that within the next decade seeing the driverless car on the road will be a common thing. They say that it is the obvious evolution for the transportation industry.
Not everyone is all for this idea however and it has been stated that there is an obvious “Achilles heal” for self-driving cars. Venture capitalist Bill Gurley states it simply “Humans will be much less tolerant of a machine error causing death then human error causing death.” Now personally I do not know how much I agree with that, especially considering that experts have speculated that deaths caused by automobiles may be reduced by as much as 30,000.
However what I do see as a potential problem is that the programing and implementation of these vehicles would have to be near perfect. As of right now there are many what ifs that are plaguing the idea of self-driving vehicles. How will the vehicles sensors react to several phenomenon is in question, for example what will the vehicle do in snowy weather, will snow fall disrupt the vehicles traction control? How will the vehicle react or respond to a police officer acting as a traffic controller?
Ultimately the dawn of self-driving vehicles is here and the sun is rising over MCity Michigan. Exciting and interesting but not without problems and concerns, technology and robots are fast becoming a regular part of our every day life. The self-driving vehicle seams like the obvious evolution for the worlds transportation industry.
All Star Limousine is a Long Island, New York based company with an extensive global reach; we provide expert Wedding, Special Event and Executive Travel services throughout the Tri-State area and the world. We have over 30 years of experience in the travel industry; our attention to detail, 2015 top-of-the-line vehicles and professional trained Chauffeurs set us apart from the rest!