An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle capable of sensing its environment and moving safely, ideally, with no human input. A Level 5 autonomous vehicle as defined by SAE does not require human intervention at all. The vehicle is capable of handling all the situations related to driving, in other words, a robotic taxi, that works on all roads, all over the world, all year round and in all weather conditions.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus, which spreads primarily through contact with an infected person when they cough or sneeze. It also spreads when a person touches a surface or object that has virus on it, then touches their eyes, nose or mouth. More than half of the world is on lockdown because of this disease. More than half of the world’s population are imposed to stay at home right now as a part of an effort to stop the virus from spreading.

I see the potential benefit of the autonomous vehicle (if there have been already one in use as a mode of public transport) in the current scenario. Although, everyone is instructed to stay inside their house there are various reasons because of which there is a compulsion for one to go out. People employed in system-critical areas (utility providers like electricity, drinking water supplier, grocery shops, pharmacies, etc) need to travel to work in order to ensure that things are normal, people can comfortably work from home or life. Health professionals have increased responsibility and are more sought-after during this situation. The supply of goods, foods, and medicines must be kept intact. There should be proper and timely of patients to the hospitals during this situation. And the list can go on….

Public transport like bus, train, metro is the main mode of transportation especially for the people living in urban areas. During pandemics like these traveling using public transport not only increases the risk of getting exposed to the virus but also increases the possibility to spread the virus when one is in the incubation period of the disease.

Therefore, in the current scenario, if there were already autonomous vehicles, enough to transport the personnel working primarily on system-critical areas, it would have been a wonderful option for a commute. I personally see a lot of benefits of a fully autonomous vehicle in situations like this.

A driverless car can be used by one person/family which will help people to avoid contact. The autonomous vehicle unlike a taxi, driven by a driver, can be equipped with self-disinfection technology to sanitize itself in pandemics like this, whereas in a taxi, as of today, the driver himself/herself act as a carrier of the virus. Such an autonomous vehicle can take some time (10-15 minutes) to sterilize itself before being available to other passengers, therefore, preventing the transfer of virus through public transport.

There are other benefits and, also the limitations of an autonomous vehicle but its use during pandemics like this is a potential use case.