Skip to content

Driverless cars are coming – Should older people care?

self driving electronic computer car on road, 3d illustration

People of my generation are old enough to have known the automobile in its infancy. We remember a car that had to be cranked with a handle in order to start—and once moving, was temperamental, cramped and offered a bumpy ride.

We took this discomfort in stride. We appreciated the miracle, the absolute wonder of being able to move through the countryside in something other than a horse drawn wagon. And how taking hours to travel a few miles was never considered a hardship.

Some of us recall the coming-of-age experience of buying our first car. Others, living in the newly-built suburbs of the 1950s,  remember the convenience of driving a car (instead of taking a train) to get to work. And families, moving to the city from farming communities, considered the car, not only a necessity, but a symbol of freedom and status.

A car that drives itself

Now, we hear about a car that will drive itself, offering freedom and safety to an entirely new population, who won’t even want to own a car. But most importantly, this invention will have an effect on millions of jobs, threatening an economic decline of epidemic proportions. For a generation that has adapted so well to the fastest transitions in history, this is one possibility that may shake us.

As driverless vehicles take hold, their impact will be felt by an entire population of workers who have bought into the dream of the car as the backbone of our economy. By the time it finishes it’s evolution, it will have wrecked havoc on one fifth of North America’s population, mostly men.

If you are thinking this will never happen, think again. Driverless trucks are already here. The first driverless truck hit the road in Nevada in 2015.

A part of every-day life

The probability of the every-day presence of driverless cars is advancing at a rapid clip. Taxi drivers, Uber drivers, transit bus drivers, school bus drivers and the supervisory staff, management and support staff for these driving jobs are all in line to lose their occupations as this innovation evolves. The fallout will be alarming.

In 2015, An Investopedia article, by Adam Hayes, CFA, outlined some of the possible implications for our economy:

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012 more than 1.7 million people were employed as tractor-trailer truck drivers. Taxi and livery drivers account for another quarter million jobs, and more than 650,000 Americans are employed as bus drivers. Taken together, that represents a potential loss of more than 2.6 million jobs—which is the same number of jobs lost during 2008 due to the Great Recession.

Even the good side of driverless cars has a bad side: The reduction of accidents is the most compelling reason behind the development of the driverless car. With the inherent risks of human driving gone, the entire insurance industry, and the businesses associated with car repair and human injuries would disappear.

No longer a futuristic dream

A few years ago, this seemed like an impossible futuristic dream, relegated to super hero movies and pulp comic books. Now, it seems entirely possible. It will be one of the biggest economic and material shifts we will ever know. Because of the sheer number of people affected, it will be even bigger than the arrival of the car that Henry Ford invented more than a century ago. Unfortunately, re-training programs and a Guaranteed Basic Income, two measures that could stave off the worst results of this automation, have not even reached the discussion stage.

Why should we, as older people, who are retired and living on pensions, care about the weighty problems of unemployment in the future? For the same reasons that we care about nuclear proliferation and climate change, I guess. Most of us are concerned with leaving the world a better place for our children and grandchildren. We gain a feeling of purpose and immense comfort from knowing that future generations will endure. For us, the specter of massive unemployment in the wake of automation is cold comfort at best.

36 thoughts on “Driverless cars are coming – Should older people care?”

  1. I am 73 and have stopped driving myself. I either hire a chauffeur for a shift or two, or use cabs and autorickshaws. For me personally, nothing much is likely to change except that I may be driven around in a driverless vehicle!

    But what you say about the human cost is likely to happen but will take time. In the meanwhile, we will learn to adapt as we have been adapting for the last few centuries with rapid technological advances.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      For me, driverless cars would solve the possibility of my not being able to drive in the future due to my eyesight. So I would welcome them! But I also worry about the future of employment, and all of the problems that may ensue.

  2. Driverless Cars? I dunno, but think how many times your computer crashes. Well, if it comes to pass, maybe that would take care of “road rage”…?

    To digress, I’m actually about to get a car with automatic transmission. I’ve driven stick all my life, and it’s hard to find what I want with manual transmission. Sigh

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      To be sure, there will be lots of glitches! But once established as part of our lives, the use of driverless cars will be relentless!

  3. Rummuser said it. The cars w/b a great benefit for those who can’t drive or don’t want to, but it will greatly displace workers. I think of the cars as mass transit on a highly individualized scale, a good thing. Bec why would you own one if you could just call it to come get you? Which would cut down on traffic and pollution, benefitting future generations. As with all economic and cultural transitions, very disruptive.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      There will be many benefits, less pollution being one. And future generations will benefit—but unfortunately not all people will gain. Like many other results of automation, there are winners and losers. Low income people with less education, especially men, will lose most.

  4. Unfortunately humans are going to have to adapt to a lot more than just technological changes . Overpopulation, climate change, competition for resources, etc. It won’t be a smooth ride.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      We do live in turbulent times! The speeding up of automation may well cause the most disruption. Employment has been the bedrock of our culture, and it will be affected.

    2. Apparently the problem of finding gainful employment for Syrian refugees is a big problem too. Bringing refugees in isn’t enough, they need to be integrated into the economy and the country. It’s not easy. I like the fact the article recognizes the lifeboat analogy. Good will isn’t enough, we need to know our limits and do the best we can within them.

      1. Still the Lucky Few

        As far as I know, there have been no problems integrating families into Canadian society. I think the refugees are too busy learning English and becoming acquainted with their communities to be looking for work. It has only been a few months. Their biggest worry currently seems to be the guilt over leaving other family members behind.

  5. So much to think about. It would help with my parallel parking issues and my growing fear of highway driving as I get older. But you are so right about it all…there are so many implications and considerations. A well thought out piece.

  6. I wonder what happened to the factory workers that made a wide range of now almost completely defunct objects – the dial telephone, the lawn push mower, the coal range/stove to name just a few things we may have had in our earlier years…

    Yep, they are probably in a % of homes, but most people seem to have the more modern versions if they have the facilities to have them, there are always pockets where that won’t have happened.

    it does seem very odd to be happening but then so many other things at the “new to you” time did the same. I remember going from the dial phone to the push button but still attached to the socket – now I have one that I lift out of the cradle and walk away…

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      It’s had to know what becomes of workers once the product they make is changed or discontinued. It would be my hope that they are kept on and re-trained. But it’s more likely that the factory is closed and they are just laid off.

  7. I hate the way most people drive. I hold on to dear life when I’m in the passenger seat. I will try anything new.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      The driverless car will be infinitely safer than being a passenger in other people’s cars. Safety is one of the attractions of this new technology, there is no doubt!

  8. Interesting post about the future of driverless cars and the past evolution of vehicles. I’m pretty sure I don’t want a driverless car, especially now when anything electronic can be hacked. I think of those poor people whose Toyotas killed or injured them due to accelerator pedals that got stuck or computers that malfunctioned. But progress will come whether we want it to or not.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      It appears that the tecchi inventors are busy ensuring that any possible human need will be addressed by something automatic! Sometimes I just don’t see the need. The good thing about self driving cars is the safety record. We can’t deny that!

  9. The last paragraph is particularly powerful, Diane. You finish your detailed description of what will almost certainly happen due to automotive automation, and then remind those of us who are older why we should care. An excellent post.

  10. I’m looking forward to driverless cars. It will mean not owning a car – no more car payments, no more insurance payments, no more new tires and oil changes. A great thing for people living on social security to my mind. And they will be safer. As an older person who realizes my driving isn’t what it used to be, the prospect of being able to retain my independence by hiring a driverless car to delivery me here and there is a benefit. Every change brings both job losses and new jobs. There will be plenty of work creating the infrastructure changes needed for the country to move to wide scale use of electric vehicles, and driverless cars are no different.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      As with all changes,there are good outcomes and bad outcomes. The information I’ve found, does not support that infrastructure development balances out job losses. More to come…Thanks, Virginia!

  11. Believe it or not, I did not see your post before I wrote mine today. (You’re more optimistic than I am about driverless cars and their effect on our society.) I’m such a control freak, it’s hard for me to imagine not being in control of the vehicle I’m riding in. And yet, I can’t envision giving up my car and my independence due to advancing age, slowing reactions, failing eyesight, or whatever the future holds. A driverless car might end up being exactly what I need.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      When I saw your article, I thought, “Great minds think alike!” I too can see the benefits of driver-less cars for older people (eyesight, for me), but I am beginning to question the rapid progress of artificial intelligence, and how it will affect an unprepared culture. Thanks for your comment. I enjoy your blog!

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Yes, we do, but we can be better prepared, especially when it comes to unemployment and lack of guaranteed income. Dropped in to your blog, but couldn’t subscribe, since I don’t have a kindle address. (I’m not really a Luddite!)

  12. Economic issues aside, I’m totally amazed by the idea and reality of driverless cars. The creativity and research and knowledge involved is incredible.

  13. I welcome the prospect of driverless vehicles — once they work out the glitches — and find technology changes exciting. Always positives and negatives with everything. How we adjust and adapt is up to us. Important we make certain they remain our tools, including, and especially, artificial intelligence. Really concerned about how the populace will respond to the job change employment situation when we see today how some are reacting to the change in racial demographics. Very good topic and presented well.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Lots to think about in the changes that are happening all around us! Am I alone in worrying about how rapidly they are coming? Sometimes at a head-spinning rate!

  14. Hi! I’m visiting you thanks to Bernadette. Wonderful blog you have. RE driverless cars – I think it’s the ‘thing’ of the near future, and I think it’s a good thing. So many people are driving distracted. A driverless car will be safer than many cars that have ‘real’ people behind the wheel. As for me? I’m in my early 60s. I hope that driverless cars will be in my future in a decade or more, so I can always have my independence and able to ‘drive’ in a driverless car.

    1. Still the Lucky Few

      Thanks, Pamela, and a ‘shout out’ to Bernadette for pointing you to my blog! I feel the same about driver-less cars, since I have eyesight issues and don’t know how long I’ll be able to drive. But I do worry about the employment fall-out for the millions of people who are involved in the driving sector.

Comments are closed.

© 2024 Diane Dahli All Rights Reserved | WordPress site by Quadra Street Designs