U.S. liquor industry wants cars to drive themselves

Automakers and tech firms have long been the ones hustling to get self-driving cars on the street. But they’ve lately been joined by a surprise ally: America’s alcohol industry.

In recent weeks, two industry groups — one representing wine and liquor wholesalers, and another representing large producers — have thrown their weight behind coalitions lobbying to get autonomous vehicles on the road faster.

Inherent in their support, analysts say, is an understanding that self-driving cars could revolutionize the way Americans drink. Brewers and distillers say autonomous vehicles could reduce drunken driving.

Without the need to drive home after a night at the bar, drinkers could also consume far more. And that will boost alcohol sales, one analysis predicts, by as much as $250 billion.

“It makes a lot of sense that the industry is interested,” said Jim Watson, a senior beverage analyst at Rabobank, the multinational finance firm. “It’s a win-win for them: Self-driving cars could boost alcohol sales and simultaneously reduce drunk driving.”

Industry groups say they have kept tabs on this technology for years. On March 1, the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, a group representing nearly 400 U.S. alcohol brokers, officially joined the Coalition for Future Mobility, which has lobbied in favor of self-driving cars.

That same week, the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility — an industry-funded nonprofit that battles underage drinking and drunken driving — signed on in support of a pending bill that would speed the commercialization of self-driving vehicles. FAAR’s members include Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi and Constellation, four of the world’s largest liquor and beer producers.

Both organizations say they are concerned about drunken driving and public safety. The industry has long supported technologies that keep impaired drivers off the road, such as alcohol sensor monitoring and ignition interlocks, said Ralph Blackman, FAAR’s president and chief executive.

But despite a steady, long-term decline in drunken driving rates, alcohol-related crashes still kill 28 people each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That statistic has been a black eye for the industry. It has also prompted some jurisdictions to levy alcohol taxes and limit the density of bars and liquor stores, which reduces alcohol consumption.

“Safety is a constant concern for us,” said Craig Wolf, the president and chief executive of the wholesalers group. “When we see a new technology that could improve safety, we want to learn more about it and share our unique perspective.”

Experts say there is some evidence that true self-driving cars would reduce DUIs. These differ significantly from the semi-autonomous cars currently on the market, which still require active input from a human driver.

Studies of ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft, which give drinkers easy, affordable alternatives to driving their own car, have generally shown that they decrease drunken driving accidents.

Similar observations have been made of public transit: When the Washington, D.C., metro extended its hours, drunken driving arrests in nightlife districts fell. At the same time, other alcohol-related arrests in those areas jumped, probably because people stayed out later and drank more, said Brad Greenwood, a researcher at the University of Minnesota who studies the unintended effects of technological innovations.

But Greenwood said it would be shortsighted to ignore the “spillover effects” of self-driving technology.