Google's Robo Car (Photo : www.theguardian.com)
In a report by the management consultants of McKinsey & Co., they suggest that the adoption of software-driven cars will either make people work more hours or save hours of work. The report appeared earlier on The Register.
It is not a secret that these types of vehicles have been used in commercial settings. A good example is Rio Tinto, wherein the use of robot trucks to haul ore to one of their sites is common.
However, the authors of the study cite that these autonomous vehicles will only be widespread beginning 2040. They added that the cars are just prevalently used by those who are fanatics.
The analysts also stated that once these vehicles will be released in the market, the results are massive. When using an autonomous vehicle, an average driver will save about 50 minutes a day, allowing himself to focus more on other activities, such as online shopping or Facebooking. Now this will give shareholders an estimated income of $5.5 billion a day.
On the other hand, other businesses will be disrupted with the products' introduction, the analysts noted. Insurance companies, for one, will have to change their policies, as they won't be offering personal accident insurance, but technology accident coverage instead.
Garage business will be affected too. With the automation of cars, there will be less and less customers coming to have their vehicles serviced.
Finally, truck and bus drivers will have a hard time finding a job when driverless vehicles are used on the road by many.
