If you’re a freshman at UF, you might be able to buy a self-driving car soon after you graduate. Google co-founder Sergey Brin predicted last fall that his company’s autonomous vehicles would be available to “everyday people” by 2017. The smart cars, guided by advanced software and undulating infrared lasers, have driven more than 300,000 miles without crashing. This could entail greater safety and convenience for UF students, including the ability to nap as your vehicle ushers you home from a late-night study session at Library West.
Liberated from the chore of driving, students in Gainesville would also have more freedom to consume visual interactive media. As part of a senior thesis, I spent four months researching how the cars might change the way we chat with our friends, follow the news and participate in our communities. My interviews with technologists, advertisers and mass media historians revealed the following three takeaways.
First, self-driving cars might eliminate what I call “dead time”: several hours per week when we can’t consume media other than radio because our eyes are — or, at least, should be — glued to the road. Pew Research Center trends suggest students would spend at least some of the time using laptops and smartphones. Peter Stone, a Texas-based computer scientist who has studied self-driving vehicles for over a decade, told me existing gadgets could be integrated with Web-connected touch screens in cars. Eliminating dead time also means exposing new battleground in the war to capture commuters’ attention. Advertisers value the commuter audience because it’s large, diverse and captive.
My second takeaway concerned mobility.
If you’ve ever endured a weed-out course for your major — like reporting or thermodynamics — you know it can shrink a student’s world. Between wresting and hitting the books, some find it hard to travel for social events like Gator games. Self-driving cars will facilitate shorter, cheaper commutes that let you travel without flunking your exams. Using a combination of sensors, cameras and digital maps, they can select the fastest route in real time. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt described it as “Google Maps on steroids.”
Meanwhile, they permit radical changes to the traffic system. In one simulation, Stone and his colleagues removed stoplights from an intersection. What ensued was a technological ballet; computer-driven vehicles used sensors to swerve gracefully around each other without stopping.
Third, people who communicate for a living can use self-driving cars to make their target audiences act. Consider Turlington Plaza, for example. As I walked through the area one afternoon, someone handed me an ad for a health-related study. Although I wanted to participate, I ended up trashing the handbill because I lacked time and energy to heed the call to action, even though the message resonated with me.
Slamming shut the gap between awareness and action is one of the greatest challenges facing strategic communicators, UF public relations professor Ann Christiano said.
Self-driving cars are unique in that they can expose a viewer to an ad, then ask her if she wants to be transported to a location specified by the advertiser. The tactic could help groups like the Red Cross appeal to volunteers, for example, or assist a bipartisan get-out-the-vote campaign in registering more citizens. Professor Clay Calvert, an expert in media law at UF, said in-vehicle touch screens might even feature a visualization of Republican and Democratic households, allowing canvassers to focus on like-minded constituents.
Of course, none of these predictions can be cast in stone. A litany of legal and political issues remain, making it hard to tell if Gator alumni five years from now will be able to release their grip on the steering wheel.
Yet one thing appears certain: The technology is poised to revolutionize how UF students engage with media.
Cody Romano is a UF public relations senior. His column appears Thursdays.
