What You Will Do In Your Self-Driving Car?

For those students exploring the autonomous car subject, here is an interesting twist.  Discussions of autonomous vehicles have become so commonplace that by the time driverless cars are widely available, the public’s excitement may be long over. It is time to ask what might be the impacts of autonomous vehicles on business and society? And if driving is left to the robots, will we also be inventing a new ridership economy?

The Auto Insurance Center recently conducted a survey that asked that very question. While this is clearly not the first such study, and most assuredly will not be the last, the findings present some interesting data.  Here is the top ten list of activities that 2,000 drivers from around the world said they will do when they are freed from the wheel (the survey link has more than 10):

1. Read a book
2. Catch up with friends and family via phone
3. Get work done outside of the office
4. Watch a television show
5. Watch a movie
6. Eat
7. Play video games
8. Sleep
9. Engage in sexual activity
10. Pray

It's hard to imagine that our time will be so "free to do what we want," especially given the security challenges facing this industry.  The article does talk about the ridership economy.  Does any of this seem real?