Kick Back And Relax, A Self-Driving Car Is Coming To The Northland
Technology at its finest, instead of flying cars like in the Jetsons, we have cars that stay on the ground and drive themselves. Sometimes I think I would opt for the flying car. But for those of you who think that would be awesome to have a car drive you around it is coming to the Northland.
Thanks to the goMARTI Project and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, they are bringing a self-driving van to Grand Rapids, Minnesota. According to KBJR6, Tammy Meehan Russel, the project manager for goMARTI, said " The vehicle itself is capable of detecting the environment and reacting to the environment. The small city was chosen specifically for this project because of its size and winter weather. In this case, we really wanted to find a project in Minnesota that focused on rural and rural communities."
According to engineers on the product, the car uses sensors, cameras, and software when driving. It can see everything around it and act accordingly. Well, I would hope so, you don't want the vehicle randomly bumping into things now do you?
Besides safety, they also wanted to make sure that this vehicle type was very accessible to everyone. For those who don't have or want to use the technology of apps, they will be able to call a local call center Firstcall 211. According to MNDOT, the cars should be on the road by September.
I know some people who live in Grand Rapids and I asked them if they would ever take one of these self-driven cars and they both said absolutely not they would be way too nervous. But like anything new in the future, these cars might be as common as Uber and Lyft are today and you would not have to talk to the driver so that is an added bonus!