Could the car as we know it be dead by 2035?

If the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is to be believed the very details which make a car, a car, will be removed by 2035, spelling potential ruin for the petrolhead and anyone with a drivers licence who enjoys any sort of motoring independence (a core desire of owning a car yes?)

The survey which included more than 200 researchers, academicians, practitioners, university students, society members, and government agencies in the field of autonomous vehicles revealed that the aforementioned experts believe that mass-produced cars will not have steering wheels, accelerator/brake pedals, hooters, or rear-view mirrors by 2035.

Worryingly that’s just 21 years away.

Advancements in technology will be the most instrumental in the continued development of driverless vehicles, with more than half (56 percent) of respondents believing that sensor technology is most essential, followed by software (48 percent), Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (47 percent), and GPS (31%).

“We’ve seen incredible growth in the driverless vehicle industry over the past few years, both in technological advancement and manufacturer acceptance, that has dramatically affected the consumer adoption timetable,” says IEEE Fellow Alberto Broggi, professor of computer engineering at the University of Parma in Italy and founder of VisLab. “The scientific community and car manufacturers have been working together to incrementally include autonomous features in modern-day cars, with the intention of producing driverless vehicles in the near future. For mass adoption, it’s important that we begin trusting this technology.”

This certainly dents my plans for a midlife crisis of the V8 variety. Perhaps it’s time to trade in four wheels for two?

Do you look forward to the age of driverless motoring? Leave a comment in the section below.

Read the full IEEE press release here.