97-year-old driver overturns Range Rover...

My dad aged 84... Probably only slightly better reflexes that the DofE. Lives 2,500 miles away. Do I worry? Oh Yes!

Tangential musing ( who me? ) but I was chatting to my son yesterday, and we were reflecting that it's more than possible, that his will be the last generation who will learn to drive manual internal combustion cars.

Future generations may well learn to drive electric, or other alternatively powered ones, but even they will eventually be replaced by driverless vehicles.

Of his circle of friends, who are currently 18-20, less than half of them have a driving licence, and fewer still have their own cars. He says that many of them have no interest at all in learning to drive and are happy to use trains or Uber etc.

Speculating about the longer term, there seems to be a feeling that people in the future won't actually own or drive a personal vehicle, but instead be shuttled around by driverless pods accessed when required.

None of them have a motorcycle licence and have no desire to get one. Motorbikes seem to have shifted from being a practical, cheaper method of getting around for those on a budget, to a leisure activity for those who can afford to run them in addition to a car. 

I totally get motorbikes if you live in a pleasant climate and/or if you need a method of getting through traffic congestion, or want to pop down to the beach in a holiday area, but as a daily form of transport in a country where it's cold and wet a lot of the time, I really don't see the attraction.

Two separate issues here I think.

I can certainly see the ICE being superseded by either electric or hydrogen fuel cell. Not sure which - may depend on how technology gets on with the remote charging that's needed for cars parked in the street - bearing in mind that urban dwellers benefit most from EVs.

I'm not so sure about how widespread autonomous cars will become. WDB knows much more about the necessary technology than I do, so I readily believe him (so that the present 0.01% chance of a Tesla hitting a police car becomes zero). But will we see a similar change in human attitudes? Currently the car is an expression of people's free will, and - even if they're wrong - people will see autonomous cars as some form of encroachmenmt on same.

There's also the issue of trust: it will help if neither Microsoft nor Apple have anything to do with the software, but I found it quite difficult to hand over to even a simple thing like the park-assist on my previous Volvo V60 - so much so that I didn't ask for it on the Q2.

OK - so I'm 70, but I try not to be a Luddite. I must ask my four children, aged 33-43, and see what they think.

As I've already posted on here, my lad inherited SWMBO's Fiesta a couple of years ago. He wouldn't now be without it, but uses it very sparingly.

Having pinched one of my bikes, he cycles to work every day (hasn't missed once, whatever the weather).

He was quite happy to come home in it at Christmas, but, though he demonstrates knowledge about the workings, has absolutely no mechanical interest in it at all, and I've no doubt it won't get changed until he's run it into the ground (or indeed, checked and serviced except when he brings it home).

At his age, I was almost permanently in the state of driving or fixing a car.



I'm not *quite* at 70 yet, but coming long-term from a technical background neither do I think I'm a luddite. But, there is a generational difference. The generations following us grew up in a very different environment, and though we have had to adapt to change, they have had to adapt to a fast pace of change over a shorter period. That drives different behaviours and levels of acceptability.
 
The differences in behaviour are noticeable across a wide range of life today - one of which is the way people learn. I always used to be told to RTFM when I wanted to know how to use or do something. Nowadays, people simply learn intuitively (and, incidentally, quite often not very well) by "playing". (You don't get much of a manual with a lot of consumer goods nowadays, and, whereas you could often get very detailed instructions via a CD or off the web, it is noticeable that this is becoming less common - the general approach being "suck it and see").

As far as autonomous motoring is concerned, frankly, the days of 'enjoyable' motoring, particularly in developed nations, are largely numbered. I think (many) consumers would thus settle for autonomous, but, IMO, though most of the technical issues are probably overcomeable in the short term, the issues of liability in the event of an accident will probably delay widespread introduction for some time. The first step is when significant use proves that autonomous cars have a much better accident rate than human-driven ones (but that's going to be chicken and egg), the second when the record of updating the existing in-use software is 100% successful. (Can you imagine the task being handed to Microsoft, and every car in a given set all having the same malfunction at the same time - underwriter's nightmare). 

Chatting with my son the other day who drives the Punto it is clear that to him it is pure transport (albeit one he manages to damage with annoying regularity). No interest in maintenance, or fettling, or even upgrading. At his age I had swapped a whole dashboard out of a Cortina, changed a clutch lying on the ground and generally fooled around with Alfasuds and other exotic machinery.

OK, I had help but we were all frends together and from this we learnt "mechanical sympathy". That sort of thing will be long forgotten.

In the 60’s & 70’s (and maybe the 80’s too) cars were cool. They epitomised “technology”, freedom, access to social interaction, a way to display individuality, etc.

Fast forward 30 years and all of those “benefits” are now obtained elsewhere. Largely via a handheld device and social media, apps like Snapgram etc. Other factors such as budget airlines and cheap travel also play a role somewhere too. The car isn’t fun or funky anymore, particularly now that there are so many of them clogging up our arteries.

Youngsters no longer want to know how things work either, they just expect them to at the touch of a button.

In 20-30 years’ time your GP or solicitor will be an admin person surfing Google for the answers!