Drive-in theatres resurgence might be stymied by self-driving cars.
One of the “new normal” predictions is that indoor movie theatre going will tend to gravitate toward attending outdoor drive-ins. That is a bountiful boost for drive-ins and offers a chance to mount a comeback of seemingly insurmountable odds.
Go, drive-ins, go.
For those old enough to remember, the drive-in was once a dominant force in the movie-going foray and enjoyed tremendous success and growth. According to industry stats, in the tail end of the 1950s there were an astounding 4,000 or so drive-in theatres across the United States (a peak year for the movie business), and gradually became less and less alluring over the years since.
Today, there are an estimated 300 drive-ins still remaining in the U.S., which actually is a surprisingly large number given that the interest in drive-in movie-going has waned so much.
Here’s an intriguing question: Will the emergence of AI-based true self-driving cars aid in drive-in theatre-going or will their adoption put a damper on the reemerging outdoor movie watching experience?
Let’s unpack the matter and see.
The Role of AI-Based Self-Driving Cars
True self-driving cars are ones that the AI drives the car entirely on its own and there isn’t any human assistance during the driving task.
These driverless vehicles are considered a Level 4 and Level 5, while a car that requires a human driver to co-share the driving effort is usually considered at a Level 2 or Level 3. The cars that co-share the driving task are described as being semi-autonomous, and typically contain a variety of automated add-on’s that are referred to as ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems).
There is not yet a true self-driving car at Level 5, which we don’t yet even know if this will be possible to achieve, and nor how long it will take to get there.
Meanwhile, the Level 4 efforts are gradually trying to get some traction by undergoing very narrow and selective public roadway trials, though there is controversy over whether this testing should be allowed per se (we are all life-or-death guinea pigs in an experiment taking place on our highways and byways, some point out).
Since semi-autonomous cars require a human driver, the adoption of those types of cars won’t be markedly different than driving conventional vehicles, so there’s not much new per se to cover about them on this topic (though, as you’ll see in a moment, the points next made are generally applicable).
For semi-autonomous cars, it is important that the public needs to be forewarned about a disturbing aspect that’s been arising lately, namely that in spite of those human drivers that keep posting videos of themselves falling asleep at the wheel of a Level 2 or Level 3 car, we all need to avoid being misled into believing that the driver can take away their attention from the driving task while driving a semi-autonomous car.
You are the responsible party for the driving actions of the vehicle, regardless of how much automation might be tossed into a Level 2 or Level 3.
Self-Driving Cars And Drive-In Movie Theaters
For Level 4 and Level 5 true self-driving vehicles, there won’t be a human driver involved in the driving task.
All occupants will be passengers.
The AI is doing the driving.
Let’s start with some of the positives or advantages of using true self-driving cars for the drive-in theater movie-going experience.
Perhaps the biggest plus is that you won’t need to drive the car.
Instead, you merely jump into the self-driving car, load it with your family or pals, and tell the car via its Natural Language Processing (NLP) to whisk you all to the nearest drive-in theater.
Meanwhile, you are able to immediately start enjoying the excursion, doing so without having to worry about traffic or otherwise having to keep your eyes locked on the road ahead.
Furthermore, while at the drive-in, whereas you or someone within your group had to remain sober to be the designated driver to get you all safely home, you can now drink (responsibly) and know that the AI is going to remain completely capable to drive when it comes time to leave the drive-in.
This act of the AI being able to drive the vehicle is a tremendous reduction in the friction of the drive-in theater journey.
Another advantageous factor is the likely altered interior of cars that are self-driving vehicles.
For Level 4 and Level 5 self-driving cars, there is no longer a need to have the driving controls for human access, and thus the automakers can rip out the steering wheel and pedals, freeing up the interior space of the car.
The odds are that the seats inside a self-driving car will be of a swiveling nature, allowing the riders to rotate to-and-fro throughout a riding journey.
In addition, the seats are likely to be recliners, allowing you to fully recline and catch a nap while heading to work in the morning, or perhaps sleeping more fully while on a longer trip that is going to take you across a state and last for the better part of a day or so.
In short, this means that the interior of self-driving cars might be extraordinarily accommodating for the drive-in theater experience. In today’s cars, it can seem like you are a pretzel trying to find a means to conveniently watch the drive-in screen, while for the self-driving car passenger the odds are that the interior seating and reclining are ready-made for the drive-in trek.
What then is not to be liked about the use of self-driving cars for the drive-in going purpose?
One aspect that remains to be seen is whether true self-driving cars are going to be affordable for use in such a luxury-oriented use case of going to a drive-in movie theater.
Allow me a moment to explain.
It is assumed that true self-driving cars will be somewhat pricey, which is partially due to the added cost of the suite of specialized sensory devices that aid in the self-driving effort. There is also the cost of the development that led to the crafting of self-driving cars. And, there will be some unknown and yet presumed significant ongoing cost to keep self-driving cars in pristine shape to keep safely working on our roadways.
In short, most pundits predict that self-driving cars will be operating nearly 24×7 on a nonstop basis, doing so on a ride-sharing basis to earn enough money to make them worthwhile or profitable as an undertaking.
The question then arises as to whether taking a self-driving car to a drive-in will make much economic sense.
The vehicle will sit doing nothing for several hours at a stretch.
Is that a cost-effective use of a self-driving car?
The quick answer would be that if there is a buying public that is willing to pay the per hour cost to simply be sitting inside the self-driving car, even while it is not in motion, the owners of such vehicles would be prudent to encourage such business.
On the other hand, one supposes there are pressures that would fight against it.
For example, suppose that an owner had a fleet of self-driving cars in a given geographical area, and the public became used to the self-driving cars being readily available for providing a lift. Meanwhile, on some evenings, a portion of those self-driving cars are “trapped” in a parking lot at a drive-in and not available as self-driving roamers that are ready to pick-up human passengers needing a ride.
Some foretell that we might see regulations that pop-up about the need for self-driving car owners to make sure their vehicles are performing rides, across the board, for everyone that needs a ride, and dutifully roaming around at all times to be readily available.
This is perhaps part of the mobility-for-all mantra.
Time will tell.
Overall, it could be that the cost involved and the other allied pressures are so sufficiently imposing that the use of a self-driving car for a drive-in going activity will be either implausible or might cause a backlash of sizable proportions.
As such, only conventional cars might be the drive-in theater mode of transit.
But the number of conventional cars is anticipated to gradually dwindle, plus the remaining conventional cars are going to be seen as outcasts, by some, namely that it seems inappropriate to continue the use of human-driven cars if there are AI-driven cars to be had.
Why so?
One aspect is that the human-driven cars are reliant upon those unreliable human drivers that have all sorts of human faults and foibles. In the U.S. there are about 40,000 deaths each year due to car crashes, and perhaps 2.3 million injuries.
Assuming that AI-based true self-driving cars are proven to radically reduce those stats, there is certainly going to be added pressure to get human-driven cars off the roads.
All told, it could mean that only those “malcontents” that are brushing back against society about giving up their conventional cars would be the only ones left to go to a drive-in theater. In that case, it would seem unlikely that drive-ins would be able to make enough money to remain open.
That would be an inadvertent detrimental effect of the advent of self-driving cars.
Conclusion
Consider one other relatively obscure factor to also ponder about self-driving cars and drive-in theaters.
You might recall that in the golden days of drive-ins that teenagers were often desirous of using their parent’s car to go to the drive-in, which proffered a sense of independence and adulthood, but could also lead to other pursuits.
There is another side to that coin.
The odds are that self-driving cars will have inward-facing cameras, used to capture video of the internal activities and for ride-sharing purposes be able to detect and catch those that might opt to mark graffiti or tear-up the interior of the vehicle. Presumably, a doting parent could forewarn the teenagers that the roving eye of the self-driving car will be watching them at all times.
Indubitably, that would put a halt to any shenanigans.
