Skip to main content

Who Pays for the Work We do in Autonomous Vehicles?

In its attempt to sell us on the concept of autonomous vehicles, Audi has asserted that its cars will add a 25th hour to our days. But who will control that 25th hour?

Volvo has recently taken a similar tack with a teaser campaign for its own autonomous vehicle, codename 360c, and asks us how your commute could “more efficiently affect work-life balance.”

The thing is, we don’t need to guess. A large swath of the population already commutes without the need to focus on driving. They, of course, use public transit and a recent study from the University of the West of England raises questions about impact ready access to work has had on their lives.

The study examined 5,000 train passengers who were commuting to London and found that 54% of them spent their time sending work emails in the morning and finishing off work in the evening, effectively extending the work day.

According to researcher Dr Juliet Jain, access to wifi on the train is causing a “blurring of boundaries.” The question of where we should get paid and for what.

“With the concept of clocking on and clocking off no longer straightforward, defining where leisure begins and work ends will be vital for both employers and individuals, as well as a complex task for regulators,” adds Jamie Kerr of the Institute of Directors, a UK-based business organization for company directors.

The question extends beyond compensation, too, because the blurring of lines has the potential to lead to increased stress and reduced productivity.

With commuters who drive to work being added to the equation, the question of how to reconcile what counts as work and what doesn’t will become even more important as millions more join the mobile workforce.

While it’s tempting to look at this time as unlocked, the reality is that the, like train passengers, the time might not become our own, as automakers promise.

It may not be Audi’s job to figure out what we do with that time, but it behooves us to decide what to do with that time before someone else decide for us.

[source: BBC News]

The post Who Pays for the Work We do in Autonomous Vehicles? appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2osehIw
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Zerouno Cruis’n USA

ItalDesign is drumming up excitement for its new supercar based around the same 5.2-liter Audi V10 that powers the R8. Naturally, it hit the road for a cruise around California last week to celebrate Monterey Car Week. There isn’t much in the way of V10 noise—which is a real shame given the sound it makes—but you do at least get a good look at the car inside and out in this video. With a body made entirely of carbon fiber and designed to be as aerodynamic and light as possible, ItalDesign figures that it will be good for a 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. “We put it our best skills into the production of the first car,” said Massimo Bovi, head of pre-series production, when the Zerouno was first unveiled in Geneva earlier this year. “Using some of the finest productions methods and engaging our high-skilled workers.” The car features clever aero tricks gleaned from single-seat racing, like a y-duct up front to improve downforce and turn-in. Available in a number of trim levels, the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Volkswagen Golf GTE Wins Top Honor at the 2015 Business Techies Awards

Golf GTE wins Green category in the 2015 BusinessCar Fleet Technology awards Judges praised the Golf GTE for its performance, ease of use and economy Golf GTE launched earlier this year with plug-in hybrid technology – priced from £33,755 204 PS performance combined with CO 2  emissions of just 39 g/km Volkswagen has added to its growing list of 2015 automotive industry accolades by winning the Green category in the annual BusinessCar Fleet Technology Awards – the Techies. The prestigious title was awarded to Volkswagen for the Golf GTE, an innovative plug-in hybrid that combines sporty dynamics with exceptional fuel economy and low CO 2  emissions. Now in their seventh year, the Techies are judged by both BusinessCar’s experienced editorial panel with help from TRL’s technology expert. The industry’s only technology-specific awards, the BusinessCar Techies reward the use of technology to make business car fleet operations easier, cheaper, cleaner, safer and more straig...
Post a Comment
Read more