The British Government today passed legislation banning all human-driven motor vehicles from highways, effective one year from today. The move has been widely welcomed.
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Links to related stories
1 Building a safer driver – MIT Technology Review Article
2 Park Without Dings – or Drivers. Wired, August 2003
3 MindBullet: HERTZ VOTED BEST AIRLINE (Dateline 16 July 2020, Published 22 April 2004)
4 Smart Highways & Smart Cars Work Together for Safety – Japan
5 Automated Highway Systems Issues, Washington University 2003
6 An Hypothesized Evolution of an Automated Highway System, US Department of Transportation
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Statistics show that human drivers are responsible for over 90% of all fatalities and although 70% of European motor vehicles today have automatic systems that permit driverless operation, only about half of drivers are using them.
All over Europe, there is a boom in ‘driving ranges’ where people who crave the adrenaline rush of driving a high performance car themselves can go for a spin in their favourite vehicle. Safe, exhilarating and expensive!
This new legislation has massive implications for the future of public transportation. With similar trends in air travel, governments will be forced to consider the integration of these new small networked systems (driverless cars and pilotless planes) into their largely centralized solutions inherited from the Victorian era.
First published on 6th May 2004 at FutureWorld
Mindbullets is a weekly column published by FutureWorld, a global business and technology think tank and consultancy based. Reproduced at htxt.africa with kind permission.
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