A self-driving car was spotted in Lagos this morning and Nigerians were so shocked to behold the sight of a car driving itself without the control of a driver.
Some of the people seen at the spot considered it as magic and some believed the car was being remote-controlled from somewhere. In the video that was already circulating on social media, a man cold be heard saying “Na spirit dey inside”, which literally meant the car was being driven by a spirit.
The car could be seen trailing other vehicles in a hold-up and residents and passers-by at that location trooped to its side trying to have a peep of what could be responsible for the motion of the car.
Watch the video below:
A Self-driving car may be new to Nigerians, but they have been around for a very long time, especially in developed countries. Although they are still on experimental stages, they are produced for commercial purposes yet.
Depending on which particular tech luminary you listen to, self-driving cars are somewhere between one and ten years away from reality. But one thing everyone agrees with is that they’re coming, and they’re going to fundamentally change transportation.
The outstanding questions are when fully autonomous cars are going to appear on our streets, and when they’ll be smart enough to entirely change how we own cars.
There are numerous advantages that could come with self-driving cars. Moving from a private-car industry to one where everyone shares a fleet of self-driving vehicles has tremendous implications for the cities we live in as well. Parking spaces can be removed, since there will be fewer cars on the street, and private vehicles could park themselves at out-of-town depots and only come in to the city when summoned. Intersections can be redesigned, and lanes taken out to widen sidewalks.
