Gadgetory

look I like driving more than most people but I know when the jig is up self-driving cars are inevitable they eliminate the most common defective component vehicles today you and me I'm Brian Cooley with the top 5 reasons for autonomous cars according to the ills they cure number 5 drunk driving the autonomous car is the only designated driver who actually likes nursing a club soda all night metaphorically speaking unlike the current law enforcement model self-driving cars could theoretically neutralise a hundred percent of drunk driving but I put this one down at number five because most future visions still expect a licensed driver at the wheel responsible for the self-driving car and that doesn't mean you can be drunk number 4 productivity you waste on average an hour of your life every weekday babysitting a steering wheel and a set of pedals what if you were productive during that ride to and from work I mean it's what the rich guys do maybe you could leave an hour earlier maybe now I have your attention number three traffic fewer cars or more roads that's the age-old battle in the suburbs right how about neither autonomous cars can easily pack more cars on the same roads since they have way faster reactions than you and they know if the other cars around them are gonna do before they do it plus being connected autonomous cars can be assigned distributed routes at rush hour instead of all of us kind of dumbly jamming into the same few lanes at the same time number two fuel economy as a component of fuel economy you suck accelerating too hard braking too late and taking dumb routes to get places autonomous cars can modulate their dynamics based on traffic flow signal prediction terrain contour wind conditions optimal routing and a bunch of things you've never thought of to optimize their own fuel economy and maybe even achieve that EPA number for a change okay the number one reason for self-driving cars is accidents or the lack thereof face it most driving is about as interesting as doing dishes and a driver's license that's about as hard to get as the common cold it all adds up to millions of lousy drivers who aren't even doing that consistently autonomous cars take the wetware you and me out from in between the hardware and software moving traffic accidents out of the daily fabric of our lives that's a big win to keep pace of the progress of autonomous cars and I promise you they're coming visit us at CNET on cars.com I'm Brian Cooley thanks for watching