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 Presumed reality
No, from the outset, there won't be city centers populated exclusively by self-driving cars; they will gradually blend in with conventional vehicles. In general, they won't be particularly noticeable.
If something breaks, they are taken to the workshop in a similar way to now. Access would have to be granted to the towing service via a cell phone code.
In terms of the number of possible defects, a higher rate is hardly to be expected. However, situations could arise that the autonomous vehicle's operating system might not be able to handle.
Therefore, markings of such a vehicle would be helpful, for example, at night when it's difficult to determine whether someone is sitting behind the wheel.
And there actually is already a concept from Mercedes dating back to 2014, the Future Truck 2025 (picture above). This is an Actros prototype that can signal externally which operating mode
it is currently using. The blue color of the front LEDs indicates autonomous driving mode. If this truck were to encounter any insurmountable problems, the only option would likely be for it to
simply come to a stop.
As you can see, there are many potential difficulties to expect in the city, which, incidentally, will still exist, albeit in a somewhat less severe form, even with a self-driving car. Therefore, we will
start with the highway, naturally, also with mixed traffic. Here, one could enter a driving instruction to a specific exit, using any device. Since we are not assuming in this book that control will
ever be handed back to a human driver, the car would have to come to a stop at some point.
In case of more serious difficulties, hopefully not in a construction zone, the shoulder of the road could be used, for which the legislation in Germany, for example, would probably have to be
changed. After all, even in an urgent case relieve oneself, it is currently not permitted to stop on the shoulder. In the best-case scenario, this would be an exit, even if not the one originally
selected. Therefore, entry and, especially, exits would need to be even better prepared for autonomous driving and vehicle control. You can see from this that, at least initially, it will not be
possible to operate these systems without a licensed driver on board.
Taking a parking garage as an example for all possible parking maneuvers, the authorized user could simply get out of the car and leave it to its own devices. Ideally, the process could be
tracked on a smartphone, showing how the car parks itself and where it ends up. There would be no need to search for it afterward; in the best-case, the car would automatically return to the
location from which it was called. Of course, manual intervention would be necessary if any problems arise.
It doesn't feel completely autonomous (yet). More like supervising a sick child. You can't really leave until the car is completely parked. For destinations other than a parking space in a parking
garage, the vehicle may even need to be assigned a specific parking spot. Also, due to the slow speed in parking lots, the car can't pick up its former passengers from an unlimited distance.
Not at all on the highway and in a parking garage, perhaps with strictly secured paths like in a factory, pedestrians running into the way are hardly to be expected. And if they do so by
negligently circumventing safety measures, then the legal situation is clear. Therefore, for ordinary road traffic, measures for ensuring safe separation must be considered, which certainly
shouldn't consist solely of a raised sidewalk.
Perhaps this is even simpler on country roads, even though speeds are significantly higher there. Just imagine the potential danger of two vehicles meeting each other at 100 km/h. Perhaps
this is even simpler on country roads, even though speeds are significantly higher there. Just imagine the potential danger of two vehicles approaching each other at 100 km/h. In comparison,
the problem of potentially relocating pedestrians to safer bicycle paths is relatively minor. No matter how we look at it, it will ultimately lead to even more speed restrictions. And if not
immediately, then certainly one accident hotspot after another.
It would be worthwhile to wait until we have enough autonomous vehicles to allow us to dedicate separate roads or at least separate lanes for them. But this is probably not going to happen
given our current mindset about driving. In fact, two vehicles without drivers could theoretically even travel faster than with.
They mustn't forget about the transport of all sorts of goods, including not only taxis but also parcel delivery services, regardless of who ultimately picks up the packages from the vehicle. As I
said, submitting a transport task is relatively easy given our average number of smartphones per person. However, ensuring that this process runs smoothly and that, for example, goods are
delivered successfully, is a real challenge.
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