Will Autonomous Vehicles Make Driving Etiquette A Thing Of The Past?
Whether we want it to happen or not – Driverless vehicles are coming to our roads in the not too distant future, we will soon be sharing the roads next to autonomous cars. But what does that mean for our driving behaviours as we know them? What will happen when human decisions and computerised rules come bumper to bumper?
A wave of the hand, a flash of the lights and a stop to let that pedestrian cross. We pride ourselves on our polite nature and the road is no exception. There are many unwritten rules drivers all obey, whether it’s letting a car out of a side street, flashing our hazards to say thank you at night. What will a driverless vehicle make of these behaviours? 70% of respondents in a survey by uSwitch thought the mix of human and computer drivers would lead to confusion and possibly more accidents on the road. 51% didn’t think autonomous vehicles would understand the flash of headlights, 32% thought a driverless car would be unlikely to let another vehicle out of a side road and 28% expressed concern that a driverless car would not stop for a pedestrian waiting to cross the road.
So when driverless cars hit the road will good manners be a thing of the past?
Even if we will miss good road manners there are several bad driving habits uSwitch’s respondents will be pleased to see the back of when driverless vehicles take over;
- 59% will be pleased to see an end to tailgating
- 42% hope autonomous vehicles will mean no more being cut up on the roads
- 38% look forward to driverless cars ending speeding
- 20% will be pleased to have all those pesky queue jumpers stopped!
Although manners may be out the window, hopefully so will road accidents as well. Of all accidents that occur on UK roads 90% are due to human error, with computers in charge accidents should reduce.
