We’ve all seen sci-fi movies where driving and transportation are driverless and cars move at top speed as they communicate and transfers and moves are made safely and precisely. Is this future for transportation and driverless driving near or far? What could and in which areas could driving without drivers benefit our daily lives and what will it offer to the general whole and in general to our transport? We will try to answer all these questions in the following article.
TRANSPORT TODAY
Today all transport (and for at least another >10-20 years in Greece) is done with drivers, but electronic systems now play a very big role in driving. The new cars (EURO 5 and above) have modern electronic auxiliary tools that make the driver’s life easier. From the cruise control known to all of us, to GPS for a faster route with less traffic, to the electronic fuel saving system, the electronic tachograph and many other electronic systems that trucks and cargo taxis now have, technology is making its presence felt in Trucks . 
Today all transport (and for at least another 10-20 years in Greece) is done with drivers, but electronic systems now play a very big role in driving. The new cars (EURO 5 and above) have modern electronic auxiliary tools that make the driver’s life easier. From the cruise control known to all of us, to GPS for a faster route with less traffic, to the electronic fuel saving system, the electronic tachograph and many other electronic systems that trucks and cargo taxis now have, technology is making its presence felt in Trucks .
Almost all companies that make cars have a division (if not more) that deals with driverless driving. The cost to create self-driving cars is actually not exorbitant (high but not so high that it’s not worth the company’s effort) and when such a car finally hits the production line it will shrink and shrink even more. But let’s start by understanding how driverless cars work. In general, the cars should, through a system, have a mapping of the area they want to drive through, have some sensors, and the area they want to cross should also have a system so that the car can perceive any obstacles (e.g. .a human, an animal ) and the other cars that do not have the automatic driving system. The goal is for all cars equipped with the self-driving system to >communicate with a wider system that will gather all the information and thus be able to predict roads that have a traffic problem and give alternative routes so that you don’t create a traffic jam, but and somehow communicate the cars so that they get to where they want to go as quickly as possible with maximum safety. The most important feature is that cars / trucks etc. can communicate with each other whether they have a driver or not so that accidents can be avoided. And this is the closest and most immediate thing that will happen in the coming years in the automotive sector. H uber’s goal is to now have a fully electronic application where the user will order his taxi from the mobile phone and a car without a >driver will pick him up to take him to his destination! While Volvo aims to reduce accidents by 100%, that is, with the technology it will have, no accidents will happen! Nissan, >google , toyota and Hundai are teaming up to give us a driverless car as soon as possible and are conducting their tests in San Francisco and Pittsburgh.
DRIVING WITHOUT A DRIVER IN THE NEAR FUTURE
Above we mentioned driverless driving in general and how it can be done and what it will give us. Of course this will not happen tomorrow or even the day after tomorrow but after 2025 in technologically developed states and after 2035 in the rest and not all at once. However, what will happen immediately within 2 to 3 years is that in some port or short-distance transports there will be trucks for transports without a driver. So there will be trucks within certain areas (either ports or industrial areas) where there will be demarcated lanes for driverless trucks. Volvo gave a video to the traffic about what the future will be like in such spaces and it is very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGgIosoT9J0
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF SELF-DRIVEN TRANSPORTATION AND WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES
In addition to the maximum security that we mentioned above, there are many more advantages that you cannot imagine.
- The first as we said above is transport safety as the cars will communicate with each other and there will be sensors on the roads where they will alert them to possible obstacles the very first they see in front of them (e.g. a landslide in a bend)
- Fuel consumption will be reduced to the optimum as one will be able to have the best fuel consumption (either oil, electricity, etc.), so the cost of a transport will be reduced >as the cost of its main component will be reduced . Also the cost of car parts will be reduced as they will not wear out as easily.
- Speaking of costs, the cost of transportation will also be reduced due to the fact that there will be no driver (consider that in the Greek market a driver costs at least 1200 euros per month to his employer, while abroad much more).
- Faster and more accurate transfers. The transfers will be done precisely on time as no driver will be able to sleep and there will be no timetables. Also everything will be able to be scheduled days or even weeks in advance depending on the load, so there will be a schedule for everyone!
- The most important is the environmental benefit that will exist as due to the reduced fuel consumption, there will not be as many pollutants. Even the tires will not wear out so easily and in general the car will not damage its parts so easily and thus there will be no materials that pollute the environment.
- Cheaper cost of products for consumers. Shipping costs for most products are negligible compared to their value, but consider that with a fully cost-optimized shipping, shipping costs will shrink even more.
- And finally something that you may not have had in mind is the information that the cars will give us. In today’s era, information is the most important thing for decision-making. Cars as we predicted will be able to send their information to a more general system. So governments will be able to make decisions based on the information (eg if there is heavy traffic somewhere maybe road widening).
On the negative side we can mainly say that since we are talking about machines and computers imagine hacking a car or even worse the system that will give directions to everything. Finally, one more negative is that due to the computers that will be used to begin with, the demand for energy will be increased (even if later this problem can be solved >by charging the cars as the future is electric cars and in general with renewable sources environmentally friendly energy).
TRANSPORTATION WITHOUT A GUIDE
In all of the above mentioned, we anticipate that they will be done very gradually, and mainly initially on highways >and in paid freight transport. In Greece, due to the poor road network and due to the general peculiarity of the Greek market in the field of transport, we anticipate that these changes will be made even in large transports at a much later time. For example in a transport of a box from the city of Thessaloniki to the city of Kavala, The transport from Thessaloniki – Kavala could be done by Truck without a driver, but the delivery to the final customer for many years will need drivers due to parking and due to peculiarities of cities. In fewer years the driver may acquire an advisory character of signing documents or simply unloading the goods until after many years it is eliminated.
OTHER TRANSPORTATION
In other transports below we present to you transports of the even more distant future with drones (not that we all know) but also of a closer future with the Hyperloop One system planned in Abu Dhabi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fze5spdN3nU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MRodLrP3Ww
EPILOGUE
Unassisted transportation will come. When is not known but certainly in 10 – 20 years it will be a reality that will concern all of us. The positives and above all the positive effect it will have on our environment is probably the most important since there will be a really big reduction in pollutants. What will give the real boost to driverless driving is Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is what all the tech giants are currently focused on. THE TRANSPORT COMPANY NEA EGNATIA KAVALAS O.O. >is next to the technological developments and always tries to inform you if you liked the above article please share it on social media!
