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Driverless cars could impact industries linked to sex
A new study finds that the rise of self-driving cars could affect the way people have sex, as well as any industry that is linked to it.
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Researchers theorized that “connected and autonomous vehicles” have the potential to disrupt all industries tied to transport, sex and tourism. (Shutterstock/File)
W
ithout the need to pay attention to the road becoming a possibility with the dawn of self-driving cars, a new study finds that this change in transport could also affect the way people have sex, as well as any industry that is linked to it.
“This is something that seems to have stimulated interest,” said School of Hospitality and Tourism Management of the University of Surrey deputy director and study lead Scott Cohen.
The study, which was published in the Annals of Tourism, found that 60 percent of modern-day Americans have had sexual intercourse in a car. Cohen noted that with driverless cars coming into the equation, it would be more likely that autonomous vehicles could become a big part of sex tourism and could affect other industries.
Researchers theorized that “connected and autonomous vehicles” have the potential to disrupt all industries tied to transport, sex and tourism.
“Sex is a part of urban tourism and commercialized sex is part of that too, so it is quite likely that autonomous vehicles will lead to prostitution, whether legal or illegal, which takes place in moving autonomous vehicles in the future," said Cohen.
A recent report by independent think tank RethinkX said 95 percent of the total miles traveled within the United States would be in self-driving vehicles by the year 2030. This is a faster transition than others have previously predicted, such as the 25 percent predicted by the Boston Consulting Group.
Read also: Driverless hover-taxis to take off in Singapore
“We are on the cusp of one of the fastest, deepest, most consequential disruptions of transportation in history,” said ReThinkX co-founder Seba.
According to NBC, manufacturers of traditional automotive companies were already struggling to retain their dominance in the market.
Cohen went on to say that hotels, roadside motels, and the transportation sector such as taxis and buses could suffer job losses, as well as places such as restaurants, thanks to dine-in pods in self-driven vehicles. Tourists will most likely prefer to explore sights whilst enjoying a meal, which would be more convenient in a moving, driverless vehicle.
Sex tourism was only a small section in the study, and Cohen said sex in self-driving vehicles would not become a reality until some time in the 2040’s, and it would most likely happen first in places where prostitution was legal and there was a government in support of technological advancement. (acr/kes)
