Why the government should ban humans from driving

Omar Rahim, CEO Energi Mine

The UK has followed many other European countries by announcing a ban on petrol and diesel vehicles in 2040. The key driver behind this decision is the damaging impact petrol and diesel cars have on the quality of our air and environment. However, governments have missed the point here. We should be banning humans from driving altogether.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for decades now, but we are currently on the cusp of a leap forward in its capabilities. We already use AI in our daily lives, in our phones, on our computers as well as in our vehicles. The natural next step is for our vehicles to drive themselves.

Uber, Google, Tesla and Apple are just a few tech giants that are serious about autonomous vehicles. Even 10 years ago, the ability to hail taxis on our phones within minutes would've been unimaginable. In 20 years, imagine explaining to a child that adults used to drive 2 tonnes of metal at 70mph on roads in the pouring rain, relying on human judgement for guidance. It will be like trying to explain to a child today what a public telephone box is.

What makes us human is our complex nature, our propensity to let "emotion" affect our decision-making. In many walks of life this is a great asset - and ones that machines do not yet possess. In relation to driving it is downright dangerous.

Globally, over 1.25 million people die per annum from road traffic accidents; roughly one person every 30 seconds
Machines can be programmed to process information much faster than humans, as well as make decisions based on physics and mathematics alone. Taking humans out of the equation will lead to safer roads for both passengers and pedestrians, as well as cutting down on unproductive time spent concentrating on driving.

One of the biggest benefits on AI replacing humans on tasks like driving is that we will get more leisure time and the opportunity to be more productive as a society. Imagine getting 2 hours a day back from our daily commute in the privacy of our own pod that can take us to and from work. Autonomous vehicles will be on call 24/7 and will be able to take us from point to point all from our phones.

Does this means there will be no more accidents - no more road deaths? No. Whilst technology is new, there will always be incidents that will sadly lead to loss of life. However, there will be a drastic reduction in accidents due to the rule-based algorithms that autonomous vehicles will adhere to.

This is not the stuff of science fiction. This technology is already available, and is being trialed as we speak.

Our call on governments around the world is to announce a target date that humans will be banned from driving.
Our biggest hurdle is not developing the technical ability to implement this change - it is government regulation to allow innovators to lead us in to a new era in travel.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Do you agree?

Energi Mine is an AI+Blockchain company that is using technology to reduce global energy consumption through its Energi Token project. More details at www.energitoken.com