Roadside Assistance Will Become Even More Important in Society

Artificial Intelligence Just Keeps on Truckin’

Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly more popular with autonomous and semi-autonomous transportation. Imagine a highway less congested, hence, less pollutants, and costing less. A highway in this fantasy world would be safer, with fewer accidents. This fantasy is becoming a reality, as more self-driving vehicles are spotted on the roads.

Environmental concerns aside, in terms of industrial transportation, having an AI driver as opposed to a human driver will reduce liability tremendously. For starters, to err is human. Without rest stops and dinner breaks, a shipment could reach its destination in record time. When a collision is predicted, AI will automatically calculate the distance between moving vehicles and apply brakes accordingly.

Lane assist features allow self-driving vehicles to always monitor lane markings. A 2014 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety report concluded that 40% of fatal crashes are because of drivers straying from their lanes. A driverless vehicle will have cameras always studying the lane markings, to ensure the vehicle does not improperly cross over.

The ultimate way to gauge the safety of a vehicle is to compare how much it costs to be insured. After all, the auto insurance premium paid is just the likelihood that a vehicle will cause damage and require payment. A brand-new car costs less to insure than that old clunker in the garage, because the insurance company considers it less of a liability. According to a Car and Driver article, self-driving vehicles will cost less to insure than regular cars. In fact, some experts predict that self-driving vehicles could fundamentally end car insurance.

Despite the advantages, AI will always be subject to limitations

As long as 65% of roads in America remain in bad condition, driving software will inevitably crash into unforeseen trouble. Inconsistent signage, faint lane markings and countless other road impediments will confuse driving software.

Cyber security is another risk for self-driving vehicles. By hacking such automobiles, terrorists can cause massive damage. It just takes a single computer hack to cause tremendous damage.

According to Electrek, in 2016, a Tesla and an 18-wheeler got into a massive accident on a highway. The Tesla’s self-driving mechanism failed to brake, because it was unable to distinguish the white side of the truck against the white sky behind it.

In addition to the above risks, driver software may find it difficult to avoid collisions not typically caused by a regular driver’s behavior. For example, heavy rain could damage the laser sensors of the vehicle’s roof. Those pesky jaywalkers are difficult for a self-driving vehicle to detect.

Self-driving vehicles will create safer and less polluted roadways. However, such vehicles still propose a massive risk. When a self-driving vehicle crashes, roadside assistance will be imperative. In addition, self-driving vehicles are a dream come true for industrial transportation. With such technology, trucks will be driven far greater distances than they would with a human pilot. Only common sense, that if you drive a car more, without ever resting, it will break down, requiring roadside assistance.

Share a Ride, But Don’t Share the Headaches

The past decade has seen the incredible growth of the ridesharing industry. According to a Mordon Intelligence article, the global ridesharing market was worth an astonishing $21.4 billion in 2020. Analysts predict that number to grow to $61.24 by 2026!

Tons of reasons could explain this meteoric rise. The tremendous cost of cars nowadays is a big motivator to stick with ride-sharing platforms. Why spend $50,000 for a new car, when an Uber ride to the grocery store costs $5? Saving money, plus saving the environment. Sounds like an easy decision.

For the driver, ridesharing is a wonderful way to make money. With an endless bank of prospective customers on their rideshare apps, the earnings potential is entirely up to the driver. The more rides they pick up, the more money they make. However, with each passenger dropped off, the car is that much closer to requiring roadside assistance.

Every rideshare vehicle encounters roadside assistance

Ask any rideshare driver, and they will tell you that they drive a lot. According to RideGuru, a full-time Uber or Lyft driver, can easily put 1,000 miles (about the distance from Florida to New York City) a week on the odometer! To make matters worse for the longevity of your four-wheeled sweetheart, most of this driving takes place in cities and during rush hour, which is especially brutal.

As a result, rideshare platforms will not accept drivers with vehicles more than 15 years old. The worst part about their job is the number of miles that they accumulate. The ‘wear and tear’ on a vehicle is an inevitability of being a rideshare driver. Rideshare drivers can earn a lot of easy money, but do not expect that car to last exceptionally long.

Ridesharing companies are partnering with roadside assistance providers to satisfy this overwhelming demand. Every ridesharing vehicle that is out of commission means a considerable loss of money for the ridesharing platform. As a result, roadside assistance is an imperative component of the ridesharing industry.

It’s Electric

Instead of running off gas, an electric car is fueled with electricity. The advantages are endless, and similar to the reasons people are flocking to driver-less vehicles as well as ridesharing platforms. Electric cars are infinitesimally better for the environment, and they are cheaper to run. Throw in the handsome tax credits achieved by purchasing an electric car and going electric will save someone considerable amounts of cash.

The engine of an electric car has fewer parts than a traditional gasoline engine. As a result, an electric engine will require less maintenance. The average electric vehicle battery, according to Consumer Reports, can go about 200,000 miles.

The electric vibe eventually dies

An electric engine is susceptible to damage as a traditional engine is. Accidents, flat tires and breaking down commonly occur with electric vehicles. Running out of charge is a problem that affects every electric car regularly. To make this problem even more severe, is that an electric car can only be “filled up” at a charging station, which is much more difficult to find than a gas station.

On average, an electric car can go 250 miles. Long road trips, through unfamiliar terrain, present a good chance that a charging station is nowhere to be found. Plus, according to an AAA study, the vehicle range of an electric car dropped 41% when the temperature was at 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and the heater was used.

Whereas the engine of an electric car may require roadside assistance less than a regular engine, the facts that an electric car can only be refilled at a few charging stations and that electric vehicles cannot go as far as their gasoline counterparts, roadside assistance will be an intimate companion of every electric car.

Scooter Sharing System

More people are discovering the benefits of the shared scooter. Most popular in urban areas, e-scooters are short-term rentals picked up and dropped off in common service areas. An individual who does not want to walk to work, just uses the app on their phone to inspect a map of nearby e-scooters. The application also includes a payment method. When the individual reaches their destination, they will use the app to lock the wheels, until the next individual has paid to rent it.

An individual may choose to use an e-scooter for a variety of reasons.

• Scooters are inexpensive.
• Scooters can be carried.
• Scooters are really fun to ride around in.
• cooters are easy to park.

Revenue in the e-scooter industry is said to reach $1,752 million in 2022, according to Statista. Even Uber and Lyft have their own lines of e-scooters. With the existence of a thriving e-scooter industry, life in a congested city is much easier.

More e-scooters mean more roadside assistance

A scooter sharing business without more than enough scooters is a disservice to its community. The more scooters available, the more profits available. The easiest way for one scooter to excel among the competition is to pack the city with as many scooters as possible. This abundance of scooters will be another reason roadside assistance will be so imperative.

Whenever a scooter runs out of gas or whenever a scooter breaks down, roadside assistance will be needed. However, scooters are relatively small. With the right sized truck, management could easily transport a broken-down scooter for service. However, depending on the number of scooters the company maintains, it may seem more probable that a roadside assistance service would be contracted to attend to the scooters in need of maintenance.

To prevent theft, every e-scooter is equipped with built-in features. When such features are damaged, roadside assistance may be required to retrieve the scooters. If a shared scooter company contracts a company providing roadside assistance, they may be trained in how to fix such problems. Of course, such responsibility would result in an increase in pay.

Drones

Drones are remote controlled aerial devices. Originally, developed by the military and used in missions too boring or too dangerous for service members. After some time, non-military use of drones became popular. Drones could be used to deliver products, for agriculture, to take unique photographs, to dop water balloons on a neighbor and for so many other reasons. Police forces can use drones to monitor traffic. Drones give wings to individuals.

According to the Seed Scientific website, there are 1.2 million drones registered in America. This number will only increase over time. Drones can be difficult to maneuver. They are vulnerable to external forces, such as inclement weather and other forms of transportation.

A drone could crash somewhere that the owner would be unable to retrieve it. In that case, roadside assistance would be the only solution.