3 Reasons Why I'm Genuinely Excited About Autonomous Cars Taking Over

1. We'd be free to do what the hell we like...

I recently said the opposite to the statement above after my one-day experience behind the wheel of an Autopilot-equipped Model S. The reason for this is simple: the system I used (the one currently found in the Tesla) is in its beta phase, so doesn’t - for example - cope in towns or on B roads and, quite frankly, loses its s**t when faced with a roundabout. You’re also required by Tesla to have a hand on the steering wheel at all times (although it works fine without), and you’re not legally allowed to do many of the things that too many people do currently: like playing on your phone.

But, by 2020 (or thereabouts) cars like this will be able to take full control at all/most times thanks to millions of miles of mapping updates and extensive refinements. This means that boring motorway journeys can be spent doing pretty much anything you can think of, including surfing the web, watching movies, doing your make-up and…actually, I’ll stop there. My (very obvious) point is, that boring trips will become bearable, helped by the fact that we’d likely have far fewer tailbacks and incidents caused by human error.

2. More track days!

There will come a time when humans are no longer allowed to drive cars themselves on the road. And while this is a sad fact, it’s important to remember that all will not be lost!

The world will still be full of petrolheads, CT will still be going and I’ll still be in a glass case of emotion looking through eBay deciding what classic BMW I want to buy next (CT News Editor Matt refers to this phenomenon as used car classifieds escalation). Because car guys and car girls will remain, you can bet on the fact that track days and motorsport events will become more prolific for people who really like driving. In turn, this means that the calibre of petrolhead who attend arrive-and-drive events will be better, which will result in fewer wannabe racing drivers making mistakes and behaving like children.

So if in 10 years’ time I’m able to drive the nuts off my little MX-5 alongside like-minded and respectful petrolheads, then I’ll happily trailer my car to and from events using my autonomously-driven Tesla van.

3. I'd be happy to ride a motorbike

The closest I’ve come to riding an actual motorbike was when I used to own a 125cc moped. I fell off the thing a couple of times because 1. I was inexperienced and 2. some car drivers are morons who don’t look where they’re going, regularly making the life of a biker very difficult.

With cars driving themselves using radars, sensors and cameras to map a beautiful, Matrix-style landscape, I therefore wouldn’t have to worry about how competent a driver is, how much sleep that guy in the van has had the night before, or whether that lady in the Q7 has figured out that I have right of way.

In essence, if I fall off my bike and injure myself because I was riding badly, that’s something I can live with. But if someone else injured me today while being in control of their car, there’d always be that voice in the back of my head saying "I told you so".

Are you excited about the advent of fully autonomous roads, or do you think what you’ve just read is nothing but BS?