6 Ways Petrolheads Will Deal With The Rise Of Self-Driving Cars

Big companies like Google have been throwing money at self-driving cars, and it’s easy to see why. The least safe part of a car is the human behind the wheel, so taking that out of the equation will eventually result in much safer roads. Once these autonomous vehicles become sophisticated enough to be completely trusted, it won’t take long before society forces human driven cars off the road.

In a world where laws have been passed that will only allow self-driven vehicles on the road, how will petrolheads get by?

1. Ricing will become normal

It doesn’t matter what you do under the bonnet, your self-driving car will only drive at the speeds it deems appropriate anyway. So with performance mods completely redundant, the only way for petrolheads to put their personal stamp on their ride would be through aesthetic modifications. We can look forward to ugly driving pods with pointless wings and garish paint jobs.

2. Wales will be annexed, autonomous cars banned

The Petrolhead Party will rise up and claim power in Wales, passing a bill banning autonomous cars from its incredible driving roads. It’ll be the number one holiday destination for petrolheads around the world in no time.

3. Grassroots motorsport will be king

Top level motorsport as we know it will die. There are two key reasons manufacturers pump money into championships like Formula 1: the technology can trickle down to the road cars, and the ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ theory. With technology taking the driver out of the car, sports that reward driver skill will become less relevant.

What this means, though, is that smaller events with older cars run by amateur drivers will take over. Drivers will need an outlet for their love for chucking a car about when they can’t drive on the road (unless they visit Wales, of course), meaning grassroots championships will spring up all over the place.

4. "Back in my day..." will become a petrolhead's favourite phrase

When we were young, we listened to our parents bemoan the death of paperback books, vinyl records and sportsmen kicking chunks out of each other, and told ourselves we’d never be like that. Well, once driverless cars become the only thing allowed on the road, we’ll be left sitting in our rocking chairs reminiscing about the good old days.

“Back in my day, cars needed drivers to get from A to B, and you darned well enjoyed the trip, too!”

5. All car meets will take place online

With car meets and cruises becoming nigh-on impossible, car meets will exclusively take place in the virtual world. There are already a number of gangs in games like GTA V and Forza Horizon 2 who meet up and cruise around the game world, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see this become the norm.

6. A 'Mad Max' style underground car scene will grow

With production of traditional cars coming to an end, and lawmakers banning them from the roads, there’s no need for manufacturers to continue creating new parts for their old cars. As the supply of OEM parts begins to run out, petrolheads will need to start improvising. The result will be monstrous cars with hilariously bizarre modifications, each and every one unique. If MCM’s Nissan Silvia ‘Mod Max’ creation is anything to go by, this would be no bad thing.