Every day in the news, there are new updates on the progress of self-driving cars. Right now, Google and Amazon are working on perfecting their version of autonomous vehicles for future transportation and faster deliveries. All this self-driving car talk may seem like it is decades and hundreds of miles away. But actually, The Villages® is one of the first places to test driverless cars as a viable mode of transportation.
An autonomous car company called Voyage thinks that retirement communities are the best places to get the world started with the self-driving car as a form of everyday transportation.
According to Voyage, retirement communities are the perfect first location to roll out their line of truly driverless cars, and they have their sights set on The Villages®. Retirement communities are generally slower-paced than traditional neighborhoods. The roads have lower speed limits, which are more conducive and safer for self-driving cars.
Like it or not, you may start seeing cars driving around without a driver very soon. Voyage announced that they had secured an exclusive, multi-year license to deploy a ride-sharing service in The Villages®, Florida.
The Villages® is the largest retirement community in the world. With an aging demographic that needs transportation to doctors' offices and grocery stores, many residents are not able to drive their cars anymore for a multitude of reasons. Many senior citizens today are not able to drive themselves because of safety issues, or they may not feel comfortable driving anymore. The lack of transportation options has become somewhat of a problem in The Villages®.
There are mixed opinions in the world today on the safety and reliability of autonomous vehicles. Most of these cars will not exceed 20MPH. They are equipped with amazing sensors, eight cameras, all while using state-of-the-art smart technology to navigate the roads around them. The manufacturers have also basically made them little tanks that are far from fragile. It is estimated that self-driving cars will one day reduce the 1.2 million fatalities on the roadways.
Voyage is deploying a fleet of driverless cars in The Villages® very soon and hopes to expand to offer everyone this incredible transportation method.
There is only one question: Self-driving cars are ready for The Villages®, but is The Villages® prepared for them?
