The British government minister in charge of transport, Chris Grayling, says that he expects driverless cars to arrive on British roads sooner than you might think. He told the annual gathering of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham that he believed they would be available and visible in less than five years.
He told his political party:
We are now rapidly approaching the era of the driverless car. I expect the first truly driverless cars to be on our roads within three or four years.
– Chris Grayling, Secretary of State for Transport, HM Government
The reason why driverless cars are a topic of relevance to ecommerce merchants and marketplace sellers lies with the potential they offer with specific regards to delivery and logistics. In particular, small autonomous vehicles offer tantalising possibilities when it comes to the “least mile” of the ecommerce experience. Specifically, small and relatively slow moving crafts, perhaps even travelling on pavements, could take ecommerce deliveries to their final destination from a local depot. The same technology could also be applied to food delivery such as pizzas.
But is Mr Grayling being realistic when he predicts driverless cars will be here in just a few short years? Is the technology sufficiently advanced to make that futuristic possibility genuinely plausible? It seems likely to Tamebay that he is probably being optimistic and widespread use of the technology will be further off than he predicts.
As we reported earlier in the year, an Uber autonomous driverless car was involved in a collision with a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona. The female pedestrian was taken to hospital and sadly later died of her injuries. This is believed to be the first time an autonomous self driving car has been involved in an accident where a pedestrian was killed, although a Tesla driver was killed in 2016, allegedly when he didn’t keep his hands on the wheel as he was advised to do.
9 Responses
@Concerned.
You obviously have no idea what this article is implying when it says that “eBay will protect sellers”.
As a buyer, you’re already protected to the moon and back regardless of what happens.
I’ve never heard of a buyer having to wait 6 months for anything purchased on eBay, certainly not within my 12+ years on the site.
In contrast, the same cannot be said for sellers.
Actually getting paid for the items you’re selling, for some, can be a task in itself. In fact, not only is it entirely feasible that a seller may never get paid for something they’ve sold, but actually can be better off not having sold it the bloody first place.
Sorry how can Irelands 300 mile land boarder be more problematic than the 100’s k existing EU non EU countries boarders?
I’m very sure if Ireland and UK worked together it could be made simple with a win win deal that profits all
Ecommerce and marketplace businesses to relocate. In other words a way to bypass any new regulations or customs checks . Your just kicking the customs checkpoints up the road it is another fudge.
If NI got it, I could guarantee that Scotland will want it also etc etc, and we would.
Then the Uk breaks up can’t be one rule for some and another for the rest. Will not happen.
It is essentially a bridge to the Eu market. The brexiteers won’t go for it, the DUP will not go for it, and the EU will not go for it.
oh look, a robot catching a ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6pPwP3s7s4
plenty of video’s of driverless cars already working throughout the world as well without crashing or driver input.
Lets watch the space. I never suggested it was easy, it’s extremely complicated. What I am saying is that the companies have already solved most of these complications in live testing and the technology continues to move at an incredible rate. The driving computer is born at optimum driving age with billions of miles of experience. It will at all times communicate with the other cars on the road.
3 years or 5 years makes no difference to the overall situation anyway, it’s inevitable.