Robot cars, ready to respond to a call in a few minutes, can completely change the attitude towards the car

Many have seen posters hanging around Moscow: “We have returned Crimea, we will return Moscow without traffic jams.” But traffic jams - at first, though not in Moscow - will be destroyed in a completely different way than they took Crimea. Not by force, not forcefully and without the help of green tow trucks.

A prototype of a device that will sooner or later solve traffic jams has just been demonstrated to the world by Google. The funny big-eyed car, which automobile columnists call a “toaster ,” is actually a scarier thing than any armored vehicle that rolled around Crimea in March.

This electric thing has no steering wheel or pedals. I sat down, buckled up, set the route on the navigator, pressed the button and off I went. Or rather, you were taken.

These devices, capable of driving no faster than 40 km per hour, equipped with a soft front end and a flexible windshield so as not to kill pedestrians if the automation does not work, will soon be driving around the cities of Northern California - undergoing testing, proving that they are safer than ordinary cars. The speed is sufficient for city driving, but according to American laws, a device without a steering wheel and pedals is not allowed on the highway.

By 2020, Google will have brought them to fruition.

The company does not intend to sell cars to individuals. Its co-founder Sergei Brin explained the meaning of the project as follows: “All these cars in private ownership and private use impose a huge tax on society. Cars are not used 96% of the time, and there are three times fewer parking spaces than cars [in Moscow it’s worse: there are about 5 million cars here, and the number of parking spaces is planned to increase to 1.6 million by 2016 alone - F ] During peak hours, 30% of movements in the city are searching for parking. This will not be needed if there are cars without drivers who will take you and then leave for the next passenger."

Brin wants to make it possible to call cars through some kind of partner service, for example, Uber (it is also available in Moscow: any driver with a car that meets not too stringent conditions can connect to it and carry passengers in their free time). You pressed a couple of buttons in the mobile phone application, and a robot came to pick you up in a few minutes.

In this situation, most people do not need their own car.

You don’t have to park, you can go about your business while you’re driving, and there’s nothing stopping you from having a glass of beer after work. It doesn't matter if you feel unwell and are taking strong medications. Are you 15 years old or 80? Who cares, there is no steering wheel, you don’t need a license.

Using such a service will most likely be cheap. There is now a successful scheme running in Paris called Autolib. Bluecar electric cars, produced by Bollore in collaboration with design studio Pininfarina, are parked - and charging - throughout the city. To use them, you need to subscribe to this service for a hundred euros per year. Renting a car costs €4-€7 per half hour. Cheaper than both Paris and Moscow taxis. Cheaper than parking your car in the center of Paris - or in the center of Moscow for the whole working day. Bluecar, which can travel 250 km after charging, has to be driven by itself, and it takes up space on the street when waiting for a client. These are, of course, disadvantages; These are the ones Google is going to eliminate.

There are people who like to drive a car. They do it for fun. They tune, buy sports cars, listen to the roar of the engine like music. Brin understands that they are not going anywhere. No problem: traditional car companies will continue to serve them. They will just have to tighten their belts a little, because most people still treat the car as a means of transportation.

To end traffic jams - and at the same time the ownership of cars that are not really needed in the family - Google will have to convincingly prove that driverless cars are not a big deal. On an intuitive level, everything is clear: the car does not text while driving, does not get distracted, does not lose consciousness, and makes standard decisions faster than a person. But until consumers see it, they won’t believe it. It's the same story with protection from hackers, who are already quite good at connecting to the computer systems of modern cars: until Google can prove that the new cars are almost invulnerable - or at least can be turned off if they behave strangely - they will be wary of them.

Like many Google projects - from a mobile phone that the user will assemble himself, to the notorious glasses - the machine now seems like a futuristic project in which there are too many unknowns. There are no business parameters yet, no clarity on the final design and manufacturers, no legislative support. However, Google has enough money, and Brin, who has retired from operational activities in the company and is engaged only in promising projects, has enough time and lobbying power to bring the matter to the end.

Personally, I have no doubt that I will get to use the service that Brin and Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick envision.

And yes, if it works, I will give up my car.

For some reason, technological solutions to life’s problems are the last thing we look for. First they come up with something to ban. Then - as if to cut it. The absence of these motivations distinguishes former Muscovite Sergei Mikhailovich Brin from those who are now making decisions in his hometown.

How the Googlemobile will beat traffic jams