Understanding The Future Of Driving - Part 1

 As the year 2020 comes to a close, and we look forward to 2021, we thought it would be a great time to discuss what the future of driving looks like. Vehicles have evolved drastically over the past several years, and all indications are even more significant changes will be occurring in the future. A lot of this is because of the data vehicles can collect nowadays about a person’s driving habits, so manufacturers can build vehicles according to the needs of their customer base. This is part one of a two-part series to help you better understand the future of driving.

The Data Your Vehicles Gather

Most people aren’t aware of how much data vehicles can gather and who owns that data. Just one example of the data vehicles collect is how much you weigh. New vehicles today have sensors in the seats to determine when the airbag should be turned on while driving. The sensor turns on depending on your weight, and this is data the vehicle manufacturer can use. The data could also be shared with car insurance providers, life insurance or health insurance providers, and others. Virtually everything about your driving habits is being collected and used in some form, which raises the question of privacy. Vehicle manufacturers are making strong pushes to be the sole owners of the data, but other legislation could prevent that from happening and allow more flexibility for auto shops and vehicle owners to have access to the data as well.

Stages Of Driverless Vehicles

All indications are we are headed to a society where people own driverless vehicles. Even though it may be far into the future, it seems clear that at some point people will no longer be driving vehicles. There are five stages of driverless vehicles you should be aware of:

• Level 0 - this includes vehicles with virtually no automation.
• Level 1 - these vehicles include driver-assist features like lane departure warnings, cameras, and similar systems.
• Level 2 - these vehicles include partial automation like adaptive cruise control.
• Level 3 - these vehicles include conditional automation.
• Level 4 - these vehicles include highly-automated vehicles.
• Level 5 - these vehicles include fully-automated vehicles.

Timeline For Driverless Vehicles

As of today, we are mostly at Level 2 of driverless vehicles, but we are slowly beginning to see Level 3 vehicles enter the market. It may be another several years, or even decades, before we see fully-automated vehicles. However, when you look at how quickly we’ve evolved from Level 0 vehicles to Level 2 vehicles, it’s easy to see why it’s a matter of when, not if, we see driverless vehicles.

DeBoer’s Auto stays on top of the innovation and the latest technology with vehicles today. Whether you have questions about the inner workings of your specific vehicle or if you’re wondering how to stay ahead of the vehicle trends today, we would be happy to talk to you. Don’t hesitate to contact us at any time if you’d like to discuss more about the future of driving, and be sure to check out part two of our blog series about the future of driving as well.