Nobody on this ball of grass and water we call home has ever praised their commute to and from work. Yet the inevitability of commuting means that having a pleasant trip each day - by car, bus, or train - is something people always think about.

Self-driving vehicles were supposed to offer a means to avoid the stress, traffic, and small talk of the commute to work. Yet following the announcement of Tesla’s Robovan, which resembles a “truck” from the movie I, Robot (2004), the self-driving revolution may just make the commute that little harder, by giving us more work to do. 

Desert Bus

The concept of commuting has always been a boring one. It’s a destination without an eventful journey. Ironically, the video games industry latched onto this idea as inspiration and parodied it, beginning with the 1998 Penn and Teller game Desert Bus, once described by The New Yorker as the "very worst video game ever created".

The player drives a bus across a virtual desert for eight real-time hours to earn a single point. Then, it’s time to do it all over again. Worse, the bus will drift into the dust if the driver takes so much as a toilet break. It’s now available in VR, for some reason. Via other titles like Bus Simulator, Jalopy, and My Summer Car, the inescapable nature of (regular) life on the move is in vogue.

Casino operators have their take on commuting, too. Office Space, one of the video slots on the Rhino.bet website, offers an “intergalactic commute like no other”. This sits neatly between the more conventional games at online casinos like blackjack. The iGaming industry has taken the idea of this conventionally boring commute and created an entertaining game, highlighting that there is a possibility of utilizing the commute more productively in real life too.

'Utilized Productively'

From the perspective of both employees and employers, this need to make some use of the commute has taxed humanity for decades. So, what’s the solution? German manufacturer Bosch anticipates commuters working during their travel hours after self-driving vehicles become commonplace around the world (a self-driving bus, similar to the Robovan, is already operating in China). The company estimates an extra €1bn a year could be generated if "all driving time" is "utilized productively." 

There are a few issues with this future, not least that very few people get paid during their commute today (calls to make commuting billable by workers are growing in volume) and some people may even regard this time as sacred, for reading, playing games, or relaxing. This makes Bosch’s predictions seem a bit farfetched, requiring an upheaval of how humans approach work. 

Even tweaks that came well-supported by data, like working from home, caused chaos that businesses are struggling with years later.

Star Trek Reality

It’s worth noting that Western policymakers seem to favor more worker-friendly approaches to life as humans flirt with the Star Trek reality, like four-day weeks and even a universal basic income. So, the idea of adding tasks to the commute when employee demands seem to be lessening is never going to be popular. 

For now, and even well into the self-driven future, it seems like the hours we spend outside work will remain as they are. Unfortunately, that also includes (not) getting paid to travel to the office. At least you're not playing Desert Bus.