The Future is (Almost) Here: Columbus Wins Grant to Test Driverless Cars

Do you remember watching I Robot and thinking, that you really just wanted Will Smith’s self-driving car? Well folks, Columbus is getting ready to fulfill that futuristic dream.

Our city won $50 million in federal and private grant money to test driverless cars, this means that we’ll be seeing test cars start rolling out by 2018, and a ‘Smart City’ by 2020, according to a Columbus Dispatch article. 

The vehicles will hold up to 12 passengers and shuttle people around three routes near the Easton town center.

The Ohio Department of Transportation plans to start laying fiber-optic cable next year on Route 33 between Dublin and Marysville in order to initiate the autonomous vehicle plans.

We might be seeing some driverless cars this year, according to the Dispatch’s article, the Ohio Turnpike Commission announced that it’ll allow testing of autonomous vehicles on the 241-mile toll road that spans northern Ohio.

Columbus isn’t the only city getting this boon, tons of other places are as well, including Pittsburgh and Michigan. Now the real question is, what will happen to the cabbies and the Uber drivers?

I think getting into a car you don’t have to drive is pretty cool, but unless I own it, I will miss the conversations and weird happenstances that come with having a real, live, human driver.

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