Should we be investing more in autonomous driving?

Earlier this year, the Obama administration announced that in the next decade $4 Billion dollars would be invested in autonomous driving. But is this actually enough? To make a comparison, data from Smart Growth America shows that in the period between 2009 and 2011 there were $36.9 billion dollars spent on road expansion, repair and preservation at a statewide level. In addition, and on a broader scale, $305 billion dollars will be allocated in infrastructure at a federal level for the upcoming 5 years.

Pertaining to autonomous driving and the $4 billion dollars reserved for research and implementation, and in direct comparison with the above data, these funds would only represent 2% of what has been spent statewide and a meager 0.6% when compared to federal infrastructure investments. This inevitably raises the question: should we be expanding our current infrastructure, or should we be making it more efficient?

Alas, investing in infrastructure is a necessity, and maintenance operations are key for safety and efficiency. But regarding expansion projects, which consist mainly of adding new lanes, thus occupying space and forcing cities to expand outwards, autonomous driving would theoretically bring a better and more practical solution.

Autonomous driving technology per se does not feel that far away, with companies such as Tesla implementing semi-autonomous features in its models, and companies such as Google developing completely driverless vehicles. Some of the direct benefits attached to driverless vehicles can help reduce the need for roadway expansion projects, as having a computer control the car instead of a human means faster reaction times, and thus smaller distance between vehicles. Additionally, having cars connected to each other facilitates their inter-coordination, controlling acceleration and deceleration between all cars and allowing for free flowing intersections where vehicles do not have to stop (and therefore reducing inertial impedance). Furthermore, interconnectivity can help route vehicles through the city in such a way that an optimum use of the current infrastructure is achieved.

All of the benefits that come from having a computer drive for you also lead to other (sometimes indirect) rewards. Owning a vehicle might become unnecessary, as a single car can be utilized in a sharing service while the owner is not using it, leading to a higher utilization rate of the same vehicle. As a result, the number of cars on the roads could potentially be reduced, and in combination with more efficient driving, help reduce overall CO2 emissions. All in all, autonomous driving has the potential to help the environment, save lives, commuting times and money, so shouldn’t the government be committing more than $4B in the next decade to this technology?