Elon Musk predicted that within 10 years nearly all new cars made in the U.S. will be autonomous, and half of those will be fully electric vehicles. "China is probably going to be ahead of that," the Tesla and SpaceX chief said Saturday, speaking at the National Governors Association meeting in Providence, Rhode Island.
Within 20 years, he said driving a car will be like having a horse (i.e. rare and totally optional). "There will not be a steering wheel."
This piggybacks well with my post from yesterday morning that predicted that all new cars in Europe will be electric by the year 20135.
I know a lot of you poo poo'd that prediction so I imagine this one will also receive some blowback from the those who fear and mistrust change as well.
But whether you like it or not the future is one where cars run on batteries and people are merely the passengers.
Remember, there was a time not so very long ago when research required a trip to the library, phones were attached to the wall, and computers took up several rooms of space.
We cannot imagine having to live without the conveniences we now take for granted, and soon the same will be true for manual driving.
Musk also had this to say about the future of energy:
Musk noted that it would only take about 100 square miles of solar panels to power the entire United States and the batteries needed to store the energy would only need to take about a square mile. That said, he imagines the energy shifting to a large dose of rooftop solar, some power plant solar, along with wind, hydro and nuclear power.
"It's inevitable," Musk said, speaking of shifting to sustainable energy. "But it matters if it happens sooner or later."
Personally I am very excited about the future. Well at least the future of technology.
I am still not at all confident that human beings are evolving as quickly as out technical advances.
Source http://ift.tt/2unvU0G
