Self Driving Cars? How About You?

You may have seen the news that Nevada has ok’ed licensing for Google to test one of their self-driving cars. This is both exciting and disconcerting, and raises as many new issues as it resolves. If perfected, the self-driving car will be a boon to those who aren’t able to drive. I have a couple of relatives who have lost sufficient sight as to be unable to drive now, and are always scrounging for rides to purchase groceries, necessities, and to make it to medical appointments. Self-driving cabs could be an interesting addition to major cities…although in addition to costing jobs, we would lose some colorful entertainment in the person of those often interesting cabbies.

The issue has already come up regarding insurance. If the car crashes, is the human passenger responsible? The company that provides it? The software designer? This will make for some interesting litigation as all of these details get sorted out over the course of years…just as every other area covered by insurance has been.

Here’s a thought though…who or what drives YOU? Do others drive you, are you self-driven like the Google car, or does a burning idea drive you to bring it to fruition? If it’s the former, it might be good to give some thought to making some changes in your life to roll with #2 or #3. You might not become another Google, but you will still go a lot further and faster down the road when it’s YOU at the wheel!