Why Google Will Get Self-Driving Cars To Market Faster Than You Think

Technology is known for speeding things up--just think about how fast you process things in a given day with your mobile devices, or how fast you get news, movies, and other kinds of media, or speed at which you can connect 'face-to-face' with someone across the world. 

Now we're seeing the emergence of autonomous vehicles at a quicker pace--thanks to both technology and the leaders of the big companies that create it. 

Google is now urging US Congress to help get self-driving cars on the roads faster, as this quote from their prepared testimony states:

We propose that Congress move swiftly to provide the secretary of transportation with new authority to approve life­saving safety innovations. This new authority would permit the deployment of innovative safety technologies that meet or exceed the level of safety required by existing federal standards, while ensuring a prompt and transparent process."

One of the big issues impeding this process is there are various safety standards in place that are impeding the adequate testing and development of these vehicles. If rules aren't able to stretch and bend to accommodate self-driving cars, then how in the world will they be adequately tested and readied for general use? For instance, just last year California put out a law barring self-driving vehicles from the roads if not equipped with with human controls and a driver. Moreover, Google maintains there isn't a set of unified rules across states that would allow for travel to be adequately tested across long distances. A big argument is that human rules simply don't need to be applied to self-driving cars because, well, they're not operated by humans. But there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Google.

According to Streetwise Journal, "In January this year, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it could waive some safety rules to allow more driverless cars on the roads as part of the push to speed up their development." The NHTSA also stated it would put safety rules in place for testing self-driving vehicles within the next six months.

But why this rush? Do you not find it interesting that Google would go before US Congress to somehow strong arm the NHTSA into compliance? Google's answer is they want to get their vehicles to market quickly--but in whose interest? Are we ready for self-driving vehicles and the world it will create? Are we ready for the transportation industry to be shaken up this quickly? Are we ready for insurance policies to be adjusted? Are we ready for the mass number of jobs lost as cabbies are forced to find new means of employment? It sounds trivial, but this will shake things up considerably, as I've written before.

And why is Google wanting to move so fast it needs US Congress to get involved? What are its plans? Trying to preempt a big strike from Apple and its emergent iCar? Could be. There have been some interesting things happening around some of Apple's R&D plants that suggest a vehicle of sorts.  Who knows. What we know about Apple is that it is poised to destroy major car manufacturers--but Google will want to be first in that disruption.

I enjoy driving. I enjoy the freedom of getting behind the wheel and driving to my destination. I like the feel of the gas under my foot, and winding roads, and cruising along the left lane of the highway--even in my van! Mind you, I have thought many times of having a driver take me around so I could spend my time doing other things; however, there's something about the freedom of the open road and the ability to navigate my way unmitigated or facilitated by a computer. 

As I've written before, what we'll see from self-driving vehicles is a target on the backs of human operators--that self-driving vehicles will prove to be safer, and thus a solution that will become ubiquitous. It will then be more expensive to insure a human operator. Driving a vehicle will then be relegated to specialized tracks where you park your toys or rent out a human-operated vehicle for a period of time to feel what was commonplace only several years ago.

In this new world created and pushed by Google and Apple, driving a vehicle will be just another nostalgic experience like the smell of newspaper, the rap of typewriter keys on your finger-tips, or the sound of vinyl on a turn-table. A sweet memory of days gone by when humans took manual control of their lives.