Autonomous Vehicles: Influencing the Modern Factory

Technology has always strived to make life better and easier for the general population. Whether it’s air conditioning keeping you cool on a warm summer day or a cell phone streamlining communication and interaction with the world, technology’s goal has remained unchanged. An emerging example of technology’s ability to simplify the world around us is in autonomous vehicles. Below we’ll walk through the basics of autonomous vehicles, the advantages they provide, and how your business can possibly leverage them in the future to enhance productivity.

What is an Autonomous Vehicle?

An autonomous vehicle primarily refers to a self-driving car. With the surge in the popularity of electric cars, self-driving cars are becoming more popular in the marketplace. Tesla, in particular, has been a big proponent of autonomous electric vehicles with its products touting several self-driving features such as autopilot, autosteering, and self-summoning. Of course, these features seek to make life more convenient and safe for drivers and their passengers. However, it is important to note that while smart technology and sensors ensure safety on the road and have the potential to stop accidents in their tracks, these vehicles are not yet fully autonomous. But analysts predict that it will only be a matter of time before autonomous vehicles are a mainstay in modern society.

How Can Autonomous Vehicles Help My Business?

While autonomous vehicles are certainly convenient for a long road trip, how exactly does it translate to helping your business? The simple answer lies in industrial mobility and its associated costs. Transportation and shipment of goods is an essential and expensive facet of every manufacturing business. In order to manufacture your product, you need raw materials. It’s estimated that over 16 billion tons of goods and commodities were shipped last year in the United States alone. When you consider the pure volume of materials and the associated costs of transportation - hiring and employing semi-truck drivers - it’s easy to see how autonomous vehicles can impact your business. Driverless trucks eliminate the cost of extra workers while enabling continuous transportation with minimal stops. While experts suggest that a complete shift to driverless trucks may still be twenty years off, the fact remains that autonomous vehicles have the capability to completely restructure the current business model and ultimately save your business time and money.

Graphic representation of a self-driving car’s sensor technology

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