Has the hype around self-driving cars died? It sure seems that way, because if you look at any tech news circuits these days you probably won’t find a single mention of the once smoking hot topic of driverless cars. Why has the hype died though? Is it a simple matter of the neo-natural lifecycle of conceptual and pioneering technology or are there some other reasons which may not be so obvious at face-value?

Practicality versus market adaptability

More than anything else perhaps, self-driving cars aren’t quite as practical as their conceptualists would have us believe. Conceptually a driverless vehicle would solve so many problems, but economically it’s not all too practical, taking into account considerations such as the costs of manufacturing, maintenance, regulatory compliance, etc. The market is a bit too slow to adapt to the idealistic view of what driverless cars have to offer on the mass consumer scale.

It’s been proven that it can be done

Part of the reason why the hype around self-driving cars has died down comes down to the fact that certain brands have already proven themselves as leaders in the industry by simply showing that it can be done. The novelty has since worn off and the reason for slow or non-adoption goes back to mass market practicality.

Is there really a need for self-driving cars?

As a car enthusiast, perhaps the biggest killer of the hype generated around self-driving cars is that of asking the question of why on earth you’d want to get around in a driverless car. Car enthusiasts love the feeling of being in control of all that power under the hood, so too those drivers who enjoy some of the exploits of advanced driving. It’s a simple matter of “But I really love driving!”

The legal implications

There’s no doubt about the fact that the dynamics of the laws surrounding the use of roads and automobiles would need to be altered, but I doubt that the legal industry itself was ever a contributing factor to the apparent push-back against the development and commercial application of driverless vehicle technology. Self-driving cars are suggested to be associated with the anticipation of less human error, which would in-turn probably make for less incidents which require the law to step in, but a legal professional such as an Atlanta Car Accident Attorney would definitely still have a job in a world where self-driving cars are the norm.

All that they’d have to do is adapt to the new legal playing field which would encompass dynamics such as who is to blame if a self-driving car were to malfunction and lead to an accident or fatality, which just by the way is a reality we have already had to deal with as far as the testing of current driverless car tech. You would still be eligible for compensation of some sort in that case, with the approach perhaps resembling that of being injured in a public space or on the property of some or other entity which will be held liable.