Hyundai Shows Off Potential of Self-Driving Cars in Heart-Tugging Video
Nicole Wakelin
|
Self-driving cars are coming and they promise us new freedom behind the wheel. Imagine being able to one day ride to work in your car without having to drive to work in your car. It sounds very cool, but to those of us who are perfectly capable of driving the old-fashioned way, it’s only a convenience. For those who can’t drive on their own, it will be amazing.
Hyundai showcased the power of autonomous technology in a video that will tug at your heartstrings. It tells of the story of a blind, Korean boy who loves cars. His blindness keeps him from driving, even if it’s just a go-kart with a bunch of kids. He can love cars all he wants, but you cannot drive a car if you’re blind. Or can you?
His parents get together with engineers who create a mini, self-driving Hyundai Sonata. This mini car is put onto a track where the boy puts on a helmet, pushes the start button, and drives. It takes him around corners and even stops at lights, letting a little boy taste what it’s like to drive the cars he loves.
The whole thing is in Korean, but you don’t need to understand a word to understand the importance of this technology. It’s one thing to think that a self-driving car will make our lives easier, but it’s another to understand that it could make our lives better.
This boy demonstrates the real potential of the technology. Those who are physically incapable of driving would no longer be unable to drive a car. It would give people with limited mobility the freedom to live more like those of us who take our mobility for granted. Anyone could hop in the car and run to the corner store, even if they couldn’t see the road.
This is a vision of our self-driving future that can’t get here fast enough.
