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Discover the Future: Top 7 Fun Facts About Self-Driving Cars You Need to Know!

illustration of self-driving-cars
Get ready to cruise into the future with these fascinating tidbits about self-driving cars that'll make your gears shift in amazement!

1. Tesla Autopilot's Life-Saving Hospital Ride

Who needs an ambulance when you have a Tesla? Bracing his chest and taking new meaning to "let Jesus take the wheel": A man from Missouri credits his Model X Autopilot with driving him 20 miles to a hospital during a pulmonary embolism, in a life-saving adventure on the freeway that showcases the technology's potential positive side.
Source => cnbc.com

2. Houdina's 1925 Radio-Operated Car Hack

In a time before Siri could finish your sentences and Alexa knew your pizza order, a man named Francis P. Houdina managed to hack a 1926 Chandler and make it dance through the streets of New York City without a single touch of the steering wheel: This whimsical wizardry took place in 1925, when Houdina turned the "American Wonder" car into the first-ever radio-operated automobile, navigating up Broadway and down Fifth Avenue, paving the road for the self-driving vehicles of today.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

3. Self-Driving Cars' Hollywood Permit Dilemma

While self-driving cars may be champing at the bit to snag their own starring role in the next Hollywood blockbuster, Tinseltown might have to hit the brakes on that notion for now: California offers three types of permits for autonomous vehicles - testing, driverless testing, and deployment (public use) - but all vehicles tested on the state's roads still require a human driver, and no fully autonomous vehicle has been produced yet.
Source => injury-attorneys.com

4. Autonomous Heroes Saving Lives and Boosting Economy

Ready for some bumper-to-bumper excitement? Buckle up, because self-driving cars are about to swerve on to the stage as lifesaving heroes and traffic safety superstars: According to a study by Intel, these road revolutionaries have the potential to save over 600,000 lives globally every year and boost our economy by $7 trillion, while virtually eliminating the need for police to play traffic conductors and letting them focus on busting bad guys instead.
Source => chainlaw.com

Gossip Queen Self-Driving Cars and Data Collection

5. Gossip Queen Self-Driving Cars and Data Collection

If self-driving cars were gossip queens, they'd have the juiciest scoop in town: These autonomous chatterboxes collect and transmit a staggering 80 terabytes of data per day – enough to make a week's worth of data weigh in at a hefty one petabyte. It's not all pillow talk though; this information helps make lightning-fast driving decisions and tailors the cabin to the rider's every whim.
Source => medium.com

6. Waymo's Martian Milestone

If Waymo's self-driving cars were an interplanetary taxi service, they'd have already shuttled Martian visitors home and back – 23 times to be precise: Waymo has impressively logged over 10 million miles on public roads, prepping for the grand unveiling of their ride-hailing service in Phoenix, Arizona.
Source => theverge.com

7. Ford's Pizza Delivery Jetsons Style

In a plot straight out of "The Jetsons," self-driving vehicles are taking pizza delivery to new heights, with autonomous cars knocking on your doorstep to hand over your cheesy meal: Ford is collaborating with Domino's Pizza and Postmates to test autonomous food delivery in Miami, using vehicles masquerading as driverless during a two-month pilot to study human interactions, while collecting valuable data for Ford's eventual rollout of a genuine self-driving car in 2021.
Source => usatoday.com

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