Driver assistance systems serve to enhance the driving experience, not to annihilate it. Despite the automotive counter-reform, people are oriented towards a greater, not less, use of the car, perhaps for the pandemic, perhaps not only. Getting around by car has its advantages, starting with the freedom of movement and ending with the intimacy of the exclusive space. Then there is the pleasure of driving, although reduced compared to before and not very cool in certain environments, so much so that although it is perhaps the greatest plus of the electric motor it is not even communicated.
But getting around by car also has a number of annoying hassles. Meanwhile, if at the start we are happy to be able to take five more minutes, on arrival the search for parking often turns pleasure into a nightmare. Along the way there is traffic, especially the unexpected and unpredictable one. The current systems reach the maximum to make the problem known, but soon they will be able to provide a solution, promptly indicating alternative routes or free stalls around the corner.
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Last but not least, safety. Although we tend to reserve fatalities for others, we are all more or less aware that current assistance systems make us travel safely and it will be increasingly so. Voice commands are now a reality and soon cars will be able to prevent us from closing our eyes or keeping them on the display instead of on the road.
Many believe that the point of arrival of all this technology is the autonomous car and that it will be the point of separation between people and the vehicle. As no one feels tied to the train or taxi he uses, so finally we can feel free from the cordon with the car. Incidentally, even the prototypes of these new cars have more the shape of an ugly minibus than a beautiful car, as if to emphasize that there will be nothing attractive or personal in them.
In reality, the autonomous car is more the direction than the finish line, for two reasons. One is that autonomous driving does not depend on technology (what the car can do) but on society: what form of mobility do we want to have, human or computerized? One excludes the other. The other is that the car is an object that transcends its transport function. It is the comfort of exclusive intimacy. It is a pleasure to drive, although not for everyone and certainly not always. As with other objects, it is the pleasure of possession and not for a few. We fill our lives with many things that distinguish us and that we like to feel only ours, from clothing to cooking recipes. It has been a long time since clocks have kept time, yet we all have more than one and never leave the house without them.