In 2020 Humans Shouldn’t Drive

IBM has just completed a report entitle “Automotive 2020: Clarity beyond the chaos.” The report details the widespread changes the automotive industry is expected to go through during the next twelve years, and how automakers can position themselves for success. Along with the sophistication of the consumer and the need to reach for expertise outside the industry, the report also goes into the progress of the intelligent vehicle:

The vehicle of 2020 will be a communications wonder. As another node on the Internet, it will connect with other vehicles (V2V connectivity), the transportation infrastructure (V2I) and to homes, businesses and other sources (V2x).

Road detection, self-repair, speech recognition, traffic regulation, age-focused assistance, autonomous parking, route optimization and more are explored as the researchers focus on safety, driver assistance, and service. They estimate that by 2020 all vehicles will have some level of connectivity, however the rate of progress depends a lot on the adoption of industry-wide standards. They ultimately predict that although we will not see a fully autonomous vehicle by 2020, we will be well on our way to achieving that vision.