Column: Cars are so advanced these days that all we're needed for is putting the petrol in

My driving skills could soon be obsolete with driverless cars coming to the UK. There are plans for Uber to team up with Chinese car company BYD to have their driverless vehicles on our roads.

I’m not sure this is one area where I think we should rush. I was an early adopter of a Ring doorbell back when I didn’t know if I’d be considered the local voyeur.

I basically put a camera pointing at my neighbours. Those technological advancements were a risk but if they didn’t pay off it wouldn’t matter. If we go early on driverless cars we’ll all be hiding behind walls when we spot an e-Uber going by.

They say it is part of a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. What, by killing off all the humans? It seems like a very Skynet way of tackling humanity’s problems.

There is one thing that might scupper the plans of BYD and Uber. Driverless cars are illegal in the UK. I know e-scooters are illegal and that didn’t stop thousands of people whipping along the pavements on them, but it would probably stop a company like Uber.

Currently we can have cars that have automated driver assist features. These vehicles have functions like pedestrian detection/avoidance and lane departure warning/correction.

Our family car has those features and it’s amazing how much of the driving the car will do for you. It will even park itself. I’m only needed to put the petrol in.

Legally you still need to have a human sat in the driving seat. If that is the case when Uber upgrades its fleet it will remove the only positive from this story. If we can get driverless taxis we won’t have to have that awkward small-talk when you get in.

No longer will you have to ask the driver if they have been busy that evening, as if you’d care either way.

I recently got in a taxi and tried to make chit-chat about how powerful his car air freshener was. He paused for a while before saying, “That’s my aftershave.” We did the rest of the journey in silence.

A self-driving car with a human still sat in the driver’s seat means all of the fears of the tech future but still having to have conversations like that.

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