What's the Future of Driverless Cars in Our Cities?

Published: 02-Oct-2013

What will the coming revolution of “autonomous driving” – self-driving vehicles – mean for our cities and metropolitan regions?

The answer is a lot. Eventually.

For decades, cars and trucks have had some degree of automation, with cruise control. Since 2003, manufacturers have been phasing in automated parking for advanced models. Backup and lane change warning systems are installed in some auto models. And at this moment there are many experiments to open an era of totally driverless cars – including lasers, cameras, radar and like technologies, spearheaded by such firms as Toyota, Google, BMW, Volvo and General Motors.

	Legal Framework Needed Before Autonomous Cars Navigate City Streets In Germany, computer-assisted driving is allowed but only up to speeds of 10 kilometers per hour (6.2 miles per hour).