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2 0 SXS W O R L D | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7 | SXSW.COM Can Autonomous Vehicles Really Save The Planet? By sheRMakaye Bass on AVs back in 2011. On the surface, it appeared that the great-grandson of Henry Ford was advocating against the industry's best interests, because as AVs take off, city dwellers will surely buy fewer cars.  Ford explains that "It wasn't really an 'aha' moment—it was more just a func- tion of traveling all around the world and being stuck in traffic in almost every major city… and I thought about our industry pro- jections. The people in our industry were looking ahead and saying, 'We have rising GDPs and a rising middle class around the world, and therefore we're going to sell almost infinitely more cars and trucks.' And it just struck me that that was a ludi- crous proposition."  Now, car manufacturers are surging forward in this brave new market of self- drivers. In fact, they appear to have surpassed tech firms like Google and Uber, which only a year or so ago were leading the AV sector.  As Daimler's Zetsche explains, it's an obvious pairing because cities around the globe are built around cars and their needs: "As the car changes, the city changes, too. Just think about parking, alone: Today, an average car is parked for about 23 hours a day. That is a lot of idle time. It also means we need huge parking garages that occupy scarce space in our city centers. A self-driving car could drive us to work, fetch our laundry from the dry cleaner, pick up the groceries at the supermarket, park itself at a remote location and return to us when required. The possibilities and bene- fits could truly transform our lives. That's why autonomous driving will have such a significant effect on many people and businesses."  Another major impact of AVs will be socio-economic. Increased mobility for the working class and working poor—whether it be through AV-supplemented public transit or in ride-hailing—can only make life easier.  "Brookings did a study that one of the biggest determinants of getting out of poverty is the ability to get to where your job is," Ford says. "And so I believe that the beneficiaries are going to be everybody—but especially people who today are out of work because they simply can't get to where their job is. So actually part of my great belief in all of this, is that this is really going to be a technology that liberates all parts of our society, and to me that's really compelling."  Zetsche also sees the arrival of AVs as a key development: "I'm convinced we're in the most exciting and revolutionary era of indi- vidual mobility since its very start." Autonomous cars will be among the topics explored in the Intelligent Future track at SXSW 2017. T he self-driving car, a.k.a. the AV or autonomous vehicle, is no longer somewhere on the horizon. In the U.S., some mobility experts predict AV ride-hailing or autonomous taxis will be deployed within five years, with AVs sup- plementing public transit systems in five to 10. Large numbers of individual self- driving cars aren't expected until further down the road due to policy, regulation, safety and licensing issues.  "I think we're talking about this kind of robo ride-hailing service in urban environ- ments first, where it's a fully autonomous shared car or taxi kind of approach," says Ginger Goodin, director of the Transportation Policy Research Center at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.  Among the coming automation's bene- fits, auto industry leaders tout the potential for AVs to have far-reaching implications for quality of life, especially for urban dwellers, the disabled and the working-poor.  "The car has always been more than just a means to get from A to B," says Dieter Zetsche, head of Mercedes-Benz Cars and Chairman of the Board of Management at Daimler. "It is and remains a personal Declaration of Independence. Self-driving cars will further enhance that individual freedom, while offering tre- mendous opportunities for our society.  "They are able to reduce emissions by driving more efficiently, and they can make personal mobility available to people with physical impairments or the elderly," Zetsche continues. "Most importantly, they will help reduce the biggest safety risk in driving: human error. So, autonomous driving will make traffic cleaner, more accessible and safer."  Daimler is deeply invested in self-driving vehicles and comple- mentary technologies such as mapping. In May 2015, Daimler Trucks North America introduced the world's first automated big rig, testing it in Nevada where it drove itself across Hoover Dam. American companies including Ford, Tesla and General Motors are testing AVs in multiple conditions and locations.  "The technology is progressing very quickly," says Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Company. "We will have several more generations of the software and the sensors and the LIDAR before it hits the road, but I think the bigger issue is all these kind of softer issues around the economy: Who's going to own the vehicles? How are they going to be managed? And importantly, if there's a setback early on with an autonomous vehicle, will that set their acceptance back for some time?"  Ford was an early proponent of self-driving cars and ruffled major feathers in the auto business when he gave a TED Talk Dieter Zetsche, photo courtesy of Daimler AG

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