Doubters say self-driving cars still a way off

Dong Yang, secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, says mastering the technology will be the easiest part of the self-driving car rollout. Provided to China Daily

A future with driverless cars sounds exciting, but some people are skeptical whether the technology will become mainstream anytime soon.

In a recently released report by IBM titled Automotive 2025: Industry Without Borders, only 8 percent of the people surveyed believed autonomous cars would become commonplace by 2025. Yet more than 80 percent expect that computer-assisted driving technologies such as self-parking or lane-change-assist will be widely adopted.

The survey interviewed 175 executives from automotive manufacturers, suppliers and other companies in 21 countries.

US auto brand Ford has openly expressed such opinions recently. Ford's CEO Mark Fields says he predicts some auto companies will push a mature self-driving model in five years, "but it won't be a Ford."

He adds that's why Ford is not interested in making market claims.

The transition to autonomous vehicles will be difficult, analysts say, because the roads, traffic laws and insurance policies were designed for conventional automobiles.

Dong Yang, secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, says mastering the technology will be the easiest part of the self-driving car rollout. "The laws, customs and cultures behind the driving practices have evolved for a century and we have agreed that human drivers take the total responsibility for any accidents.

"A simple example: once a pileup happens between two self-driving cars, whose fault is it, the car's or the driver's? This raises a new challenge for the existing system," Dong says. Convincing some people to give up the pleasure of driving could also be a challenge, Dong adds.