You and a group of three friends have spent the last hour pre-gaming in your room. Everyone is blatantly too drunk to drive, but the only thing going through your mind is to get to Ybor and start dancing the night away.
There is always the possibility of catching a cab outside of Vaughn or Straz, but another solution may be just around the corner.
Google, a company that seems to be taking over the world these past few years, announced last week that they have been testing a fleet of autonomous vehicles.
Previously unknown to the automotive industry, Google has outfitted a number of Toyota’s popular hybrid vehicle, Prius, to function without a driver on roads and highways in California.
They are proud to announce that their fleet of Prius have driven over 140,000 miles with only one accident to date.
Incidentally, the accident was not the Google car’s fault, but that of a driver behind the car who rear-ended the vehicle at a red light. This might prove what most people are afraid to admit: robots can drive a vehicle more safely than a human.
During these initial testing situations, there have always been two passengers in the car.
In case of computer failure, the driver and the car must be brought under manual control and a computer specialist must watch over all system diagnostics to ensure that all programs are running efficiently.
The Google car has even taken on the infamous Lombardi Street in San Francisco, CA, and was able to navigate the tight turns and intense grade without hiccups.
A few things stand in the way, though, of a full takeover by autonomous cars.
To start, GPS systems that guide the vehicle are still not accurate enough to keep a car in an exact location. Currently, commercial GPS applications are only accurate within a few yards. For vehicles driving themselves and passengers inside, the largest margin of error would be inches not feet or yards.
Also, the system sensors required in the vehicles are too large and, like the GPS system, not accurate enough to trust in “driverless” situations.
The era of manually driving your vehicle to and from work or school, or even just around town may be nearing an end.
For years people have imagined the day when they can sleep on their journey in their vehicle, and with the advancements in autonomous vehicles, it is actually foreseeable.
Bradley Wank, a student at UT, had a few problems with the thought of being a passenger in a driverless vehicle.
“It would really freak me out. I feel like I need to see someone driving for me to feel comfortable in a car.”
Martin Conroy, another UT student, said, “While I enjoy driving, there are situations where I would probably like the car to drive for me, like after a long day at work.”
Todd Sanborn can be reached at toddalan@me.com.