The last cars piloted exclusively by the driver
In 2040, around 15% of all cars will still be driven entirely by hand, while all of them will be at least assisted, partially, conditionally, highly or fully automated. This is according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group and Morgan Stanley for Switzerland, as quoted in the following graphic by the Sonntagszeitung online (blue below: completely manual, green above: completely autonomous).
So now the federal department responsible for road traffic (FEDRO) in Switzerland is also looking at autonomous cars, similar to what is already happening in Germany. A working group is working on adapting the Road Traffic Act to pave the way for automated cars, according to the Sonntagszeitung. Incidentally, it should also be possible to use fully automated cars without a driver's license, which makes sense if the steering wheel and other controls are actually missing ...
At any rate, driving instructors are already thinking about changing their job description and the press and commentators are hotly debating the subject.
The future is probably unstoppable, but the interesting question is when these self-driving cars will take us and our old cars off the roads. The good news is that, according to the Boston Consulting Group and Morgan Stanley, this is unlikely to happen in Switzerland before 2040, because by then only a small proportion of cars will be truly self-driving, while the majority will be partially or highly automated at best. However, by 2040, more than half of drivers will no longer have their hands on the steering wheel and will only intervene in exceptional situations, if the forecasts are to be believed. Hopefully, their software will be able to deal with cars that meet much earlier standards.
Until then, let's just enjoy the cars in which we can still change gear as we please in the best sense of the word.
