Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi believes that in “20 plus years,” all cars will be autonomous, leading to a decline in private car ownership and a shift in the perception of driving to be a hobby, which he compares to horseback riding.
Business Insider reports that in a recent conversation with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared his vision for the future of transportation, predicting that all cars will be autonomous in around 20 years. This shift, according to Khosrowshahi, could lead to a significant reduction in private car ownership and an increased focus on safety metrics for autonomous vehicles.
Khosrowshahi’s comments come at a time when many companies, including Tesla and Waymo, are developing and releasing robotaxis or autonomous software for personal vehicles. While these advancements have been met with both excitement and skepticism, the Uber CEO believes that the transition to fully autonomous vehicles is inevitable.
“Humans are fallible, and I think there’s much less permissiveness for machines to make those kinds of mistakes, especially if those mistakes lead to fatality,” Khosrowshahi said during the MD MEETS podcast. He emphasized that as autonomous driving technology matures, machines will undoubtedly become safer than human drivers.
This shift towards autonomous vehicles raises important questions about the future of driving and car ownership. Khosrowshahi suggested that societies will need to grapple with the idea of allowing humans to drive on open roads, given the potential safety advantages of autonomous vehicles. He sees driving becoming a hobby like horseback riding is today.
As companies continue to develop and deploy autonomous driving technologies, they face increasing scrutiny over safety concerns. Tesla, for example, was recently ordered to pay over $242 million in damages after a Florida jury found its Autopilot technology partially responsible for a fatal crash.
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