We have al heard about autonomous driving: driving a car without human input. Although this new technology is not yet directly visible on the public road, autonomous vehicles are the future of transportation. The government is already preparing for main changes in the current infrastructure to make autonomous driving possible on large scale in urban areas. And many vehicle manufacturers are focussing more and more on development of this technology. But how close are we actually to fully autonomous driving?

The most well-known manufacturer in this industry is probably Tesla. A few days ago, Tesla announced it provides all new models with hardware that enables fully autonomous driving (AD, 2016). Although the new functions are not yet available to customers, the integrated hardware makes it possible to update the vehicle to a fully autonomous car. After several further tests Tesla plans to make the update available to anyone who has bought one.

Despite this good news about the speed of innovations in autonomous driving, fully autonomous driving seems a little further away. RDW announced the term ‘Autopilot’ used by Tesla is misleading (Trouw, 2016). Fully autonomous driving is not yet available on the market; the driver always has to keep his hands on the wheel and pay attention to the surrounding traffic. Although the technology enables autonomous driving, fully autonomous driving software is not allowed yet. In addition, when the driver lets go of the driving wheel for too long, the system will power off automatically.

In conclusion, although fully autonomous driving is not yet available, vehicle manufacturers are fairly advanced in the development of certain systems. Making it possible to fully rely on this technology while driving may take some time, but it is developing rapidly and within a few years the proportion of vehicles with this technology will further be increased.

AD. (2016). Retrieved from: http://www.ad.nl/auto/alle-nieuwe-tesla-s-kunnen-zelfstandig-rijden~a06e14a8/.

Trouw. (2016). Retrieved from:        http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/39681/nbsp/article/detail/4397451/2016/10/17/RDWvindt-Autopilot-van-Tesla-misleidende-term.dhtml.

Feeling nervous when your internet connection isn’t working for a few minutes? Stressed when you forgot your phone in all haste to work? Are you the type checking your phone, while you just did so thirty seconds ago?  Or bringing your charger everywhere suffering from dead-battery anxiety? Possibly you are suffering from nomophobia: a state of stress caused by having no access to or being unable to use one’s mobile phone (Hussung, 2015). It is the fear of getting disconnected with friends, family and the world. Nomophobia (no-mobile-phone-phobia) is considered a disorder of the modern world and a consequence of human interactivity with new technologies (King et al, 2013).

Research suggests 53 percent of all British phone owners suffers from nomophobia (Elmore, 2014). 55 Percent of the surveyed people cited that they fear to fail keeping in touch with family and friends when they could not use their phones. And did you know that one in five people reported that they would rather go without shoes for a week than without their smartphone?

To be honest, I caught myself having an acute nomophobia attack last week. On my way to the subway station Kralingse Zoom I realised I was missing something. So I checked my pockets: keys and OV-chip card still there. But then a moment of shock occurred: my phone was missing! Quickly I went through my bag, my pockets again and my bag again. No phone. I thought of all the photos and messages I could have lost… immediatley I ran back to the university. Luckily someone had found it and brought it to the reception and after just 20 minutes without one, I had my phone back.

The moment I realised what I actually was worried about in that quick 20 minutes without phone, I was wondering what had happened to me. I was always convinced I could live without phone but this incident made me thinking about the impact of today’s technologies and corresponding social development on my personal life. And of course, it Is undeniable that technologies such as smartphones make everyday life easier: finding your way in an unknown city has never been so easy and working anywhere at any time makes work so much more efficient. However, when the absence of something like a smartphone leads to negative feelings of anxiety and distress we must realise that there is some disturbed balance between real and online life.

Bibliography

Elmore, T. (2014). Nomophobia: a rising trend in students. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/artificial-maturity/201409/nomophobia-rising-trend-in-students

Hussung, T. (2015). Emerging trends in psychology: tech dependency. Retrieved from: http://online.csp.edu/blog/psychology/technology-dependency

King, A. L. S., Valença, A. M., & Nardi, A. E. (2010). Nomophobia: the mobile phone in panic disorder with agoraphobia: reducing phobias or worsening of dependence?. Cognitive and Behavioral neurology, 23(1), 52-54.