Bill Gates is a self-professed car guy who finds something meditative about driving. He’s even gotten himself into trouble with his past interpretation of the rules of the road.
The rules, about how we get around and who does the driving, are surely destined to change with autonomous vehicles, and Gates is excited about the road ahead.
In a new Gates Notes blog post on Wednesday, the Microsoft co-founder writes about how he thinks AVs will change transportation as dramatically as PCs changed office work.
“AVs are rapidly reaching the point where almost all of the technology required has been invented,” Gates said. “Now, the focus is on refining algorithms and perfecting the engineering.”
Gates got out from behind the wheel for a test drive ride in London with Wayve, a British company whose AI learns from the real world driving it does and applies those lessons to future trips, without relying on pre-determined driving instructions and maps.
In the video above, Gates is clearly impressed by the vehicle’s ability to navigate busy London streets with a myriad of obstacles that would stress out any human driver.
