How Driverless Vehicles Will Alter Many Job Markets

July 28, 2016 – Paul Reyes-Fournier is a frequent contributor to 21st Century Tech blog. This is his fourth posting. With a bachelors degree in Physics and MBA he has worked both in the aerospace industry and in education. His real passion, however, is to do something good for the world. This has led to a career in the non-profit sector where he has served as the CFO of a multi-million dollar rehab agency. Paul has lobbied Congress for funds to help homeless individuals and served on the BOD for social service organizations. He is a published author, co-author of CoupleDumb.com, and has written for JG Wentworth, Walmart, and LifeLock. We continue to welcome his insights and contributions and hope you find this article enjoyable.

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In the early 21st century, economist Clayton Christenson coined the phrase “disruptive innovation” to describe technology so new it creates a market where one previously did not exist. To maintain a disruptive market, new products, services and infrastructure need to be developed constantly. Autonomous vehicles seems to be one of those disruptive innovations that will a profound change on the future including the job market. Why?

Autonomous Cars Will Spur Job Creation

Today, more than 250 million vehicles, with an average age of 11.5 years, can be found on the world’s roads. As autonomous vehicles become available one can discern a future in which all these existing older cars and trucks get replaced. At some point one can envision legislation to enforce the removal of non-autonomous vehicles from the roads because they will be seen as driving hazards.

One can also assume that the way autonomous vehicles get manufactured may differ from what we see today. Automotive manufacturers may be pressured to move to new locales with the appropriate labor market skill sets close at hand, and the means to implement new production and development processes. This means traditional assembly line workers will be in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Imagine General Motors and Ford scrambling to ensure they can get the right employees, and stay on top of this rapidly advancing technology without losing market share to new competitors who can tap into new graduates with the necessary skill sets, and construct state-of-the-art factories 100% suited to autonomous vehicle design and assembly.

Who’s Liable for a ‘Thinking Car?’

Without human drivers it is predicted that the potential for accidents will decrease with implications for the insurance industry. More importantly, liability may shift from individual drivers to manufacturers, impacting the insurance industry even further. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, insurance sales is a relatively high-paying, positive-growth industry that does not require a degree. But the loss of jobs in this sector would mean thousands of people out of work.

Consider These Driving Careers

The advent of autonomous vehicles would also remove the need for drivers. That means truck and bus drivers, chauffeurs, taxi drivers, etc. Indeed with autonomous vehicles this may be the last generation to need to take a driver’s test. The numbers bear looking at. There are an estimated 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States and nearly a quarter million taxi drivers and chauffeurs. Add in the estimated 163,000 Uber drivers and you get 4 million people who may be out of work because of autonomous vehicles replacing them. There’s plenty of time to become acclimated to this transition of course providing time for those in these businesses to find new lines of work.

Computer Scientists in a Robot World

Cars will always need mechanics but in the age of autonomous vehicles that job description will change. Instead of auto mechanics the work to service these vehicles will resemble a computer lab. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, autonomous vehicles will contribute to even higher growth in computer-related jobs. Current annual salaries for these skills ranges from $80,000 to nearly $150,000 US. Unlike the traditional auto mechanic, tomorrow’s will need a bachelor’s degree or higher to keep cars running properly. As autonomous vehicles become the standard a range of support jobs will evolve from vehicle technicians able to run diagnostics to advanced programmers designing new capability.

New Types of Policing

What will be the impact on traffic monitoring? Policing takes on a whole new requirement with autonomous vehicles. Accidents will be rare. Speeding tickets will be a thing of the past. No one will be running a red light. But the threat of hacking into the computer systems of an autonomous vehicle will become a reality that will require defense. Discovering and stopping cyber security threats will be the new role of police to keep our streets safe.