According to Dave Rolf, executive director of the Hawaiian Auto Dealers Association (HADA), the technology for self driving cars is still relatively in the early stages, and that the number of autonomous cars in Hawaii will grow as fast as the technology itself. “Driverless cars will be here in 2020, they say,” said Rolf, “and there’s five different kinds in five different levels: hands on, hands off, eyes off, mind off, and then no wheel.” For now, not only do all semi-autonomous cars still have steering wheels, they have built-in sensors that require the driver to, at the very least, maintain a physical connection, even when in auto-pilot mode.
When it comes to these self-driving cars, Hawaii is in many ways ahead of the curve.Gov. David Ige recently traveled to Google’s headquarters in California to see firsthand what these cars of the future have to offer. “The real focus by everybody that we talk to is they truly believe that autonomous vehicles can reduce significantly the traffic deaths on the highways, because these cars can be safer,” said Ige. Ige says Hawaii is perfect when it comes to hosting and advancing the technology.
The Governor also think this technology could help the local economy. “Part of the conversation was to allow us to hopefully attract research and development type of jobs in addition to serving as a test,” said Ige, “and more importantly in a long-term basis, we are looking to see if we could establish research and development facilities here in Hawaii which would create quality jobs for our community.” In addition to adding more jobs, there’s also a shared belief these cars could one day help eliminate our worsening traffic.
Source: www. khon2.com
