Self-driving turnaround or automotive continuity? Reflections on technology, innovation and social change

Abstract

The automobile is one of the salient features of modern industrialized societies and symbolizes social progress and individual prosperity. In the countries of the Western world, the number of private cars per capita of the population and the distances travelled daily by car continue to increase. In 2018, there were 568 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in Germany (Umweltbundesamt 2019b); prior to the Corona pandemic1 each person covered an average of 29 out of 39 kilometres daily by car as a driver or passenger (Nobis/Kuhnimhof 2018: 46.