There’s been a lot of talk about the potential benefits of so-called ‘driverless’ cars of the type that Google is working on, but much less has been said about the other ways in which smart cars might ‘drive’ a revolution in road transportation.

Previous research has shown that we could make serious inroads into the 30,000 road deaths recorded in the US each year, even if cars are only partially automated. Vehicles equipped with “forward-collision warning systems” that automatically apply the brakes have far fewer accidents than those that don’t, according to a number of studies.

With more than 1.2 million people worldwide killed on the roads each year, the development of smart cars that can reduce this figure is a worthy cause. But a reduction in road deaths is not the only benefit that a future with driverless cars will deliver, as Will Knight outlines today in Technology Review:

• As well as road safety, there’s the prospect of fully-automated cars driving in high-speed platoons to reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicles, thus providing up to 20% savings on fuel consumption.
• As self-driving cars become the standard (and thus, more affordable), car-sharing services will become even more prominent. This could lead to less car ownership, as people see the cost benefits of hiring cars on-demand, rather than paying for one outright.
• Four times as many cars could travel on the roads if all vehicles were fully-automated, says Knight. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, this could make a serious dent in the 5.5 billion hours and 2.9 billion gallons of fuel lost each year due to traffic congestion.

As stunning as these benefits may be, it could be years before we reach the point where fully-automated vehicles dominate our roads. One major challenge noted by Knight is the need for human intervention if and when the smart car’s sensors/systems break down – people could easily be lulled into a false sense of security, and unable to react in time to avert disaster.

In other words, until driverless cars are totally and utterly as reliable as can be – for instance, as safe as airplanes on auto-pilot – few people are going to want to entrust their lives to them.