A recent article in The New York Times announces that Uber will begin testing driverless cars in Pittsburgh in a matter of weeks. Not to be outdone, traditional auto majors—who will not allow their core business of making vehicles to be upended—have announced that they are investing heavily in driverless technology for their own vehicles. History is instructive, and it is worthwhile to look at what happened to the world in the late 1880s, when the first horseless carriages (today’s modern motor cars) began to make their appearance. Driverless cars as they are envisaged today still require the presence of a driver to step in to steer should things go awry—and when they don’t, things can go horribly wrong. It will be many years before driverless cars become more numerous than ones with humans at the helm, and it is important that these patrons have a long enough investment horizon to see this through.

Source: Mint August 22, 2016 19:07 UTC