When we look at inventions that promise to change our lives in the future, few concepts have gripped the public’s imagination like the self-driving car.
A vehicle that will get you to your destination while you eat a meal, scroll through Twitter or just catch up on your sleep sounds like something ripped from science fiction. But self-driving cars are here, according to one Irish tech boss; and it won’t be long before they’re part of our lives.
Shane Sorohan is COO of Cubic Telecom, which provides the technology to connect devices, including those in cars.
Automotive companies are going through a transformation right now, he said on this week’s episode of All In, as the world prepares for autonomous vehicles to go mainstream.
“Over the next few years you’re going to see some car manufacturers that we’ve known for years and years either coming together to work together or some of them just won’t make the transformation,” Shane said.
“You’re going to see a lot of companies coming into the automotive space that weren’t there previously; the likes of Google, you’re seeing Uber and Lyft.”
Listen to the full interview here.
Self-driving cars could be on streets as soon as in the next decade, he continued.
“There’s autonomous cars there today that can drive you around by themselves. What’s going to take time is getting the infrastructure in place onto roads and then the transition from people driving cars to autonomous cars is going to need to be carefully managed, otherwise there could be a lot of incidents.
“I think it’s in the ten, 15, 20 -year range but it’s going to be a transition. It’s going to take time but the technology is there.”
Shane features on this week’s episode of All In, JOE’s new business show.
