As sited in our previous article, possibilities of traffic supervision are unlimited. But there are quite some reasons to talk about this topic for a moment. The first as already mentioned was the more reckless driving, caused by a car that is more capable of keeping control of the vehicle..
So what if we improved traffic supervision one step further: Let’s say a completely full automatic system that does not need a human driver anymore. Basically it would come to this: you log in to the system, say whereto you want to go, sit down and wait for the vehicle to transport you towards your destination.
Theoretically, this system would be very fast and effective. The system always knows the shortest route, the route with the least traffic, there wouldn’t be traffic lights and the system never has to break because it can’t see if a car comes from around the corner: it just knows! As a surplus, power consumption can be reduced to a minimum.
So you’d say: “Wow, great idea! Lets do this!”. The problem is that I don’t think everyone is set up for a drastic change like this. First, not everyone would like to hand in all their power upon a vehicle. Especially men want to keep control of what’s happening with their vehicle. The most stupid example is that quite a few people still prefer manual gear instead of automatic; even though that the automatic one knows exactly what preferred gear comes with what speed. Second problem is that people might not trust the system and don’t feel secure using them. And who can blame them. Can you ever fully trust your electronic devices if for example your internet connection falls out from time to time. Or worse: the most famous Blue Screen Of Death, familiar to users of the Microsoft Windows operating system. But the worst thought it might give to people is that if something happens, there is no one to save them because there isn’t really anyone in control of the vehicle. Also whenever an accident would occur, this could mean the end of this transport system: When there is an accident on the road, people know it was due to a fault of someone and there is a person to blame. But whenever there would occur an accident in this “all-knowing system”, this actually means that the system fails and is unreliable and unsafe. People loose their trust and will refuse to use the transport system until they regain confidence.. which could take for a very long time.
So what can be done about this problem? The best thing to do is to make sure the transport system spreads a feeling of security and an atmosphere of confidence and reliability. Once such a system is ready, there should be commercials to highlight all the benefits it provides in order to get people to start using these new means of transport. It will be more then necessary, because for many people this renovation would mean they loose the joy of driving a car.
And if you think that these problems are still far away, you are wrong! An innovative personal transport system: ULTra (Urban Light Transit) is been constructed among London Heathrow airport at this very moment. So we will find out about how people react on these systems sooner then you might have guessed!
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7hgipbHBK8
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