Driver-less Vehicles Coming to Georgia Roads

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, April 7, 2017 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Some day in the near future little Sam or Susie might not need a driver’s license to get to school, and they won’t need you, either. Autonomous vehicles have been authorized and can be legally registered in Georgia, when S.B. 219 becomes law on July 1st.

If you have an autonomous vehicle equipped with the right hardware and software, you or someone else may program the vehicle with the appropriate destination. Then, tell the kids to get in and buckle up. When the vehicle’s program is activated, they’re off to school in a driver-less, computer driven vehicle that weaves through traffic, makes the appropriate stops and turns, and arrives at the programmed destination to deposit the kids. Then, the empty-of-all-human-occupants vehicle parks or proceeds to its next programmed destination.

If no one in the vehicle has a driver’s license, that’s okay. They’ll be passengers, not drivers. Hardware and software of the “fully autonomous motor vehicle with the automated driving system engaged” is programmed to perform real-time steering, accelerating and slowing down, accident avoidance, and proper-response traffic maneuvers. Visualize it as a vehicle operating without anyone in the chauffeur’s seat, or the high-tech simile of a “head-less horseman.” Continue reading →