“It’s a step-by-step process. The adaptive cruise control, the blind spot notification, those types of things are technologies that will get us to that next level,” Kurt Myers, PennDOT’s deputy secretary for driver and vehicle services, said recently.
Between 2020 and 2030 (again, being conservative) the first mass-market semi-autonomous vehicles will hit the streets. Most likely, said Aaron Steinfield, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, the technology will initially be limited to freeway or limited access highway environments.
“Keep in mind, autonomous vehicles on highways were done in the mid-1990s,” he said. “Highways are easier because they are more structured environments. So it’s a lot easier to do safely because there’s fewer unexpected events.”
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