Self-driving cars are slowly become a thing of the future that might eventually replace our current way of doing things. If everything goes according to plan, we could witness fewer road fatalities, and nearly $200 billion could be saved each year.
Cars that drive themselves without much interaction from the passengers could mean the end of dangerous accidents that take the lives of millions around the world per year. In the United States alone, 2.5 million people visit the hospital for car related injuries per year, and the cost for treatment is around $3,300.
Of the 2.5 million people, over 200,000 of that number are hospitalized, and the cost of staying in the hospital along with all the treatments that come with it, is around $57,000.
Clearly this is a huge problem that needs to be solved, and chances are self-driving cars are the way out of this decades-long debacle.
The report claims that over 1.2 billion people spend 50 minutes per day driving their vehicle. It means if self-driving cars are capable of giving back that 50 minutes of time back to the driver, revenue in other sectors could improve.
For example, if a person is not driving, chances are he/she would be playing around on their mobile phone or tablet. This 50 minute of free time is more than enough time advertisers need to show off their wears and contents in hopes to make a quick buck.
“This could potentially generate global digital media revenues of [$5.6 billion] for every additional minute people spend on the mobile Internet while in the car,” the report said.
At the end of the day, not everyone will be pleased with the outcome of not being able to drive their vehicles themselves. There’s a high chance we’ll see protesting throughout the United States in the years to come, but they won’t be able to stop progress.
Those who are against self-driving cars should bear in mind that despite the amount of advertisements about drinking and driving, speeding, among other things, drivers are still breaking law.
Who knows, self-driving cars might become a dangerous thing, but we’ll cross that river when we get there.
Source: [USA Today]
