Increased road safety and reduced congestion are some of the benefits that are most commonly mentioned when talking about what the impact of driverless cars will be, when they hit the streets in about 15-20 years, as most auto industry observers predict. In addition to that, autonomous vehicles are also expected to have a significant economic impact, but it’s too early to talk about the financial implications, since they are still quite far from becoming commercially available. However, a new study has been published that attempts to shed light on how driverless cars can transform people’s lives, according to which, these vehicles could yield significant financial benefits.
McKinsey & Company released a report that claims that self-driving cars could save the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars when they become mainstream, and drastically increase revenues of many companies across different industries. According to the report, autonomous vehicles can help the national economy save about $200 billion per year, resulting from an estimated 90-percent reduction in car accidents, bringing down costs associated with motor vehicle crash injuries and deaths.
Furthermore, the report goes on to say that mobile Internet service providers might see a huge increase in revenues after driverless cars are introduced to the market, as they will allow drivers to engage in other activities while traveling, and many of them are expected to use that extra free time to surf the web. According to the authors of the report, driverless car owners could end up saving as much as 50 minutes a day by not having to drive. Each additional minute that occupants of driverless cars spend on the Internet could yield an extra $5.6 billion a year in digital revenue.
On top of these substantial financial gains, McKinsey & Company’s report says that driverless cars will free up a lot of space that is now used for parking. Given that driverless cars will be able to drive to a parking spot on their own, without the need of a human driver, parking spaces wouldn’t have to be as wide as they are now, since these cars wouldn’t require extra space for their doors to open. According to the researchers, this would free up 6.8 billion square yards across the country, which could be used in a more productive way.
Another major effect of the introduction of driverless cars will be reduced car insurance premiums, researchers say. This is because self-driving cars would eliminate human error, forcing insurance companies to only cover the risk of technical failure, instead of covering the risk of human driver mistakes. Also, the report underlines that driverless cars are highly likely to cause a major drop in car sales and a reduction in vehicle ownership, as they will make it easier for members of the same household to share a single car, instead of having to own multiple cars.
Finally, the report concludes that the benefits of driverless cars will be substantial, despite the numerous regulatory challenges they will have to overcome before they can become a viable alternative to conventional cars.