The prospect of autonomous driving continues to be one of the interesting topics of conversation in the general public for quite some time now. A normal busy day with our roads and cities full of self-driving cars/vehicles may still seem impossibly futuristic for many. But this scenario though appears to be an exclusive part of a science fiction film, is not that distant in the future if we go by the developments taking place in this field.
This topic, however, engenders some pertinent questions: are we ready to incorporate such a technology in our current scheme of things? How will safe our future be with self-driving cars? The precise answers to these questions are difficult to give at the moment, but we will try to look into a few important aspects of this concept.
How Did We Get Here?
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So the clear surge in these smart technologies inducted into the present day vehicles gives us a promising picture. In various markets around the world, there is already a business of buying and selling of smart cars has started substantially.
However, there are equally telltale signs of concern as far as autonomous driving is concerned. The critics argue that presently we do not have enough data to show that driverless cars are absolutely safe. Currently, there is no way of measuring whether an autonomous vehicle is as safe as or safer than a human-driven car. People, therefore, are also concerned about riding in these autonomous vehicles.
Recently Tesla’s Autopilot car was under severe criticism when it met a fatal accident on a Florida highway. The makers then put a caveat by saying ‘any person sitting in the car needs to keep his/her hands on the steering wheel all the time’. Not long after this incident, Google’s autonomous car also met its first crash in California, which raised obvious
Now, I am very intrested in cars and I love almost every aspect of them, but did you know, that each year 1 million, people die each year from car accidents? And 81% of these accidents are caused by human error? 1 million people, gone like that. Fortunately, there's a new technology that dramastically decrease this number. This technology is self-driving cars. A self-driving car is a car that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. Currently, about 33 companies including Tesla, BMW, and Google, are working to create self-driving cars that can prevent human errors and change the way people view driving. Self-driving cars, have other benefits besides preventing human error, such as less traffic congestion, and less fuel consumption. However, with these benefits come some costs such as cyber security problems and ethical dilemmas. So, should we have self-driving cars, or not?
Driverless cars are already starting to show signs of safer driving. In a test, drive exercise the driverless car demonstrated another vehicle cutting in front of the driverless car. While it was driving itself, still traveling at 100 km per hour the driverless car immediately braked to adjust its speed to maintain a safe distance behind the vehicle that cut in front and slightly moved the steering wheel to stay centre in the lane. It is said that in a situation such as this a human might have overreacted or shake the steering wheel which could of caused the car to steer into another vehicle or off the
Ethical issues are, among those, the most notable ones. In “Why Self-Driving Cars”(2015), it arises a typical ethics dilemma when a driverless car can be programmed to either save the passengers by endangering the innocent nearby or sacrifice its owner to avoid crashing into a crowd. Knight(2015) cites Chris Gerdes, a professor at Stanford University, who gave another scenario when a automated car can save a child’s life but injure the occupant in the car. The real problem is, as indicated by Deng(2015), a car cannot reason and come up with ethical choices and decisions itself like a human does as it must be preprogrammed to respond, which leads to mass concerns. In fact, programmers and designers shoulder the responsibility since those tough choices and decisions should all be made by them prior to any of those specific emergencies while the public tends tolerates those “pre-made errors” less(Knight, 2015; Lin, 2015). In addition to the subjective factors of SDCs developing, Bonnefon and co concludes a paradox in public opinions: people are disposed to be positive with the automated algorithm which is designed to minimize the casualty while being cautious about owning a vehicle with such algorithm which can possibly endanger themselves.(“Why Self-Driving Cars”,
Almost 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year; this is around 3,000 deaths a day. While technology is constantly improving, there are still numerous accidents revolving around cars that involve human drivers, not to mention the countless accidents that may occur if a car were to initiate the driving. Such technology is worrying because driving is a skill that does not come naturally. Everyone has to learn how to drive, because there are many different scenarios and instances that a computer can not account for like a human could. Driverless cars should not be continued because it would be too expensive, engineers would have to construct and reinvent new software to prevent accidents and new laws regarding driverless cars would have to be established.
In recent years, the technology to advance cars to the point of automation has been developing drastically. The idea of automated cars, before the 1950’s, was solely considered to be science fiction. Self-driving cars were only theorized until the concept of an automated car became more realistic as progressions began in 1958, when Nebraska attempted to create cars that could drive themselves through radio signals along electrical circuits. These designs were not all successful many of which continued to have many errors in their design and in their ability to react to unpredicted issues that could spontaneously arise out on an open road. (“Self-Driving Cars”) Since then controversies have arose to safety issues regarding the ability of automated
Although there are issues with implementing self-driving cars on the roads today, self-driving cars can ultimately benefit society. According to public announcements made by companies like Tesla and Nissan, we may start seeing self-driving cars on the roads within the next 3 to 6 years [Ref. 1 and 2].
Driverless cars kill people. With the years flying by, driverless cars seem very close to coming into the world. New technology comes with new issues all the time. Sometimes these problems don’t matter, but people must see the issues with the driverless car. Driverless cars should not be utilized due to the massive ethical programming debate and technical problems that make the car’s safety questionable.
Self-Driving Cars are the natural of active safety and obviously something we should do” states Elon Musk, the innovator behind popular Tesla motors. When heavy hitters in the automotive industry like Elon Musk advocate for them, it’s apparent mainstream implementation of them are just around the corner. However, we must question the ethics of self-driving vehicles, answering questions like how the cars will value life in unavoidable accidents. There is much debate on the implementation of autonomous cars, and it is hard for the common man to decide their stance on the subject, as they have many groundbreaking pros, but complicated cons that are yet to be answered. Many of the ethical and societal dilemmas and changes include the autonomous
When we think of cars, we usually think of vehicles that must have an operator to propel them, but that might change in the near future, as cars increasingly become autonomous. There is substantial evidence proving their usefulness for drivers, the most significant of which is considerably cutting down the number of automobile accidents. However, great technology comes at a big price, and there is no guarantee that the technology will suffice to replace people as the driver. Among all the opinions about this new phenomenon, one thing is certain: these technologically advanced cars will change driving as we know it forever. There are many differing viewpoints as to when fully autonomous vehicles will hit the roads, but most studies say we should expect them in twenty years.
Self-driving cars are the wave of the future. There is much debate regarding the impact a self-driving car will have on our society and economy. Some experts believe fully autonomous vehicles will be on the road in the next 5-10 years (Anderson). This means a vehicle will be able to drive on the road without a driver or any passengers. Like any groundbreaking technology, there is a fear of the unforeseen problems. Therefore, there will need to be extensive testing before anyone can feel safe with a vehicle of this style on the road. It will also take time for this type of technology to become financially accessible to the masses, but again alike any technology with time it should be possible. Once the safety concern has been fully addressed
People around the world are constantly moving from place to place. Whether that place is work, a restaurant, or home, people require a means of transportation in order to arrive at a desired destination safely and efficiently. One of the most used means of transportation today are cars. Cars play an important role in the world’s economy by transporting goods and people. Automobiles have come a long way since Ford’s first Model T, and the auto industry plans to further enhance the technology and capabilities of the cars that drive on our roads. New technological advancements like rear-view camera, self parking, and auto braking have greatly improved the overall safety of cars today. However, one of the most talked about ideas are autonomous
It might be hard to see where the self-driving car could have issues with safety but an interesting question arises when an accident is unavoidable. The question posed is “How should the car be programmed to act in the event of an unavoidable accident? Should it minimize the loss of life, even if it means sacrificing the occupants, or should it protect the occupants at all costs? Should it choose between these extremes at random?” (ArXiv). This is a very interesting question surrounding ethics. I’m not sure if there is a right answer to the question, which could stall the self-driving car industry. Before self-driving cars are mass produced a solution needs to be found to the question about unavoidable accidents. Although this question is a problem, there may not be a need to address the problem. It is said that “"driver error is believed to be the main reason behind over 90 percent of all crashes" with drunk driving, distracted drivers, failure to remain in one lane and falling to yield the right of way the main causes.” (Keating). Self-driving cars could eliminate those problems entirely and maybe with all cars on the road being self-driving cars, there would be no “unavoidable accidents”. Safety is the main issue the self-driving car is trying to solve in transportation and seems to do a good job at
Technology is evolving faster than ever these days, however there is one technology that could revolutionize the transportation industry. This technology is called autonomous cars, also known as self-driving cars. Autonomous cars can be defined as a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment, and navigating without human input. Using different techniques such as GPS and radar, autonomous cars can detect surroundings, thus removing the human element in driving. This would have a positive effect in more ways than we could ever imagine. Research suggests that self-driving cars will become more abundant in the future because they will be more cost-effective, enhance safety, and decrease traffic congestion.
Many feel that driverless cars are the future of the automobile industry. When someone hears “Robot cars hitting the road soon” is that a guarantee that the roads will still remain safe? With the rapid growth of technology through the centuries, more specifically computer software, the issue arises of whether or not roads and other drivers will be safe behind the wheel. Currently there is very little knowledge on how driverless cars will be engineered, which brings concerns to peoples eyes. Subsequently, driverless cars can be prone to hacking, which leads to out of control situations for drivers behind the wheel.
Statistics consistently show that an average of 90% of all life-taking car crashes are attributed to the inevitable aspects of human error. However, in this new age of technology, self-driving robot cars are slowly being introduced to the market, bringing the great potential of changing the way people drive, with quick response times, no distractions, and highly developed programs. But, the use of this potentially life-saving technology is met with much controversy, with one side advocating for its use, while the other side against it, claiming that as with all technology, there are risks such as mechanical and developmental errors, involved with the use of a robotic car, arguing that the potential benefits do not outweigh these risks.