Bill Gates has always been an authoritative voice when it comes to technology and developments in the future of society, where he tries to make predictions about the next steps that will mark an era before and after our lives.
In addition, the founder of Microsoft also became famous for his predictions. For example, in 2015 he predicted the arrival of the coronavirus when he said that the next global disaster would be “an epidemic”.
Now he took a stab at trying to predict the future and opined that the next technological breakthrough that will change society will be autonomous vehicles.
“We are in the early days of the autonomous era. I can’t wait to see the new possibilities,” Gates said. For him, “we are close to the turning point” with this success.
Autonomous vehicles, the technology that will mark the “turning point”.
Bill Gates talks about Artificial Intelligence and predicts that there will be “an inflection point” in the development of autonomous cars. “Autonomous cars will allow the driver to take his hands off the wheel and let the system drive in certain situations,” Gates predicted.
For the entrepreneur, “they have reached the point where almost all the necessary technology has been invented. Now, the focus is on refining the algorithms and perfecting the engineering”. Gates compared this technology to the transformation vehicles that used to bring computers to work in the office and that caused a “rethinking” of driving systems.
The changes, according to the tycoon, will be made gradually. He believes that cars with passengers will be the last to use them: “Long-distance travel is probably the first sector, followed by shipping,” he said. “Car rental companies lose a lot of money every year because of accidents caused by drivers. So they are eager to switch to autonomous fleets that have less accidents,” he said.
Finally, he said, “Automatic cars will be cheaper than regular cars. And if, like me, you travel by car, think about the time you waste driving.”