How Does Conventional Cars Affect Society

446 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Affect of automobiles on society

The advancement of technology and the development of new products has had a lot of impact on society. There are a handful of products that have been particularly impactful such as guns, the lightbulb, the telephone, and television, but no product has had a greater impact on American history than the automobile. For over 100 years cars have been produced in America. According to Robin Chase, the CEO of Zip Car, 95% of American households own at least one car. Soon a new breakthrough technology could make owning a car pointless. Conventional cars may be replaced by self-driving cars. This change will have a significant effect on many parts of society including public safety, the economy, crime and punishment, and city planning. Self-driving cars are automobiles that operate without a driver. They use 3d scanners, GPS, …show more content…

By replacing conventional cars with self-driving cars, these numbers are expected to decrease substantially. In fact, since self-driving cars have been released for testing on public roads in America, they have not been involved in any accidents. Self-driving cars, especially the Google car will have a massive impact on the economy. Households will no longer need to store cars in driveways or garages. The collision repair and the auto insurance industries will be made nearly obsolete. Even the fossil fuel industry will be affected, because all the current self-driving cars are powered by electric engines. Crime and punishment will be affected by the new technology, since intoxicated driving will no longer be an issue. Currently, much of city planning is focused on providing enough space for parking. In Los Angeles California, over 17 million square meters of land are used for parking. Self-driving cars could eliminate the need for most parking spaces, since they will operate 24 hours a

Show More
Related

  • Self-Driving Cars: Should They Prevent Human Error?

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    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?

    Read More

  • How Driverless Cars Affect The Economy

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    With driverless cars becoming more and more of a possibility in the near future, it has brought up questions about how it will affect our economy, as well as the jobs of the public. Uber drivers, truck drivers, cab drivers’ jobs are at risk along with the companies that provide them. Many industries may also be affected. There are an approximate “1.8 million heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in the U.S. earning a median income of $40,260 per year” (Bureau of Labor Statistics). 1.8 million people may seem like a small number compared to the 318.9 million individuals living in the U.S., but it will have a large effect on those drivers when they have to find a new job to support themselves

    Read More

  • How Self-Driving Cars Work

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Companies like Google, Tesla and Nissan, among others, have announced over the past few years that their companies are trying to develop self-driving or autonomous cars [Ref. 1 and 2]. Self-driving cars can provide many benefits to the average consumer. Studies have shown that because computers can react and process information many times faster than a human being, crashes on streets and roads can be decreased with quick and consistent evasion maneuvers by the autonomous car. They can also help maximize fuel economy by calculating the most direct and fastest routes. When the driving of an autonomous car demonstrates that the computer can safely and reliably transport the passengers to their destination, this frees up the passengers to do other things that they would not normally be able to do if they were driving the car manually. For this reason, self-driving cars can help maximize productivity of their passengers.

    Read More

  • Essay On Autonomous Drivers

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, technologies that autonomous cars require are expensive, and are unaffordable to many people; “Dellenback estimates that most current civilian and military AV applications cost over $100,000,” (Fagnant and Kockelman 12). This highly advanced technology could increase, “annualized costs $1,000 to $3,000 per vehicle,” (Litman 5). Unexpected events happen, and creating a system that can function safely in any situation requires a lot of technology. For example, autonomous vehicles need to recognize a potential roadblock and react safely, “recognition of humans in the roadway and object materials is both critical and more difficult for AVs than human drivers,” (Fagnant and Kockelman 4). AVs reduce the need for parking, which is bad for the government considering parking is one of the main sources of income for many cities. Public transportation could also take a major hit with AVs prevailing. One of the highlights of public transportation is the ability to engage in leisurely activities such as reading or using a smartphone; if AVs allow these activities, the use of public transportation could significantly go down. Many jobs could be lost by the reduction in the use of public transport. The commercial transportation sector employs many people, “it is likely that AV technology will eventually lead to the loss of commercial transportation sector jobs at considerable human costs,” (Anderson et al. 39). AVs would replace the need for a human person driving, resulting in huge job losses. A Columbia University study found that “a fleet of 9,000 autonomous vehicles could replace all 13,000 taxis in New York” (If Autonomous Vehicles Rule the World From Horseless to Driverless). AVs could also cause major liability issues. For example, usually car crashes only result in minor injuries. Even if AV technology were to end

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Autonomous Vehicles

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    With the rise of ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, autonomous vehicles have a real shot at becoming a leading mode of transportation. Technology is becoming a bigger part of each of our lives everyday, along with the unfortunate increase of laziness, this shows that the greater population would most likely benefit from a hands-free mode of transportation. Some think that this new technology will lower driving jobs and hurt the economy, but with all technology, someone has to fix it when it glitches. This new technology is going to open up job opportunities across many fields such as mechanical and computer engineering. Also, the economy will be thankful for the booming business that these autonomous vehicles are going to bring. Along with the great economic effects, autonomous vehicles will also prove to have a smaller impact on the environment and therefore we will have less air pollution. Air pollution is a serious problem in America, being the worst in cities with high amounts of traffic. Fuel being pumped into the air will be a thing of the past when autonomous vehicles take over, and the economy will like it to. Although, economic effects seems to be the least of worries as scientists are struggling to solve ethical

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Self Driving Car

    246 Words  | 1 Pages

    A beneficial effect of self driving cars are all the improvements to safety and vehicle efficiency

    Read More

  • Advantages Of Self Driving Cars

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    New technologies sprout up everyday like new toys, new electronics and especially new cars. According to CNN Money, 2016 set a high record of 17.5 million cars sold in the United States. Since each year is getting more advanced, self driving cars have been the new topic of interest. This idea of driverless cars was first imagined in 2009 by a company called Autonomous Cars, led by Sebastian Thrun. Over the past few years, the Google Self Driving Car project (part of Autonomous Cars) has been making and putting driverless cars on the roads ready to test. Self driving cars will not be better for people because driverless cars can put most of their expenses, businesses, privacy

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Autonomous Vehicles

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    Auto repair companies, car insurance companies, all of these wouldn’t have anything to sell because if autonomous cars are already accident-proof, then car repairs wouldn’t be as necessary and car insurance would be useless. This could cause a domino effect, for example if autonomous cars are completely accident proof, then insurance and auto repair companies wouldn’t be needed anymore in the industry. Resulting in less income for the companies that sell tires or machine parts to those industries. Not to mention other car companies which don’t sell autonomous vehicles, no one would want regular cars when everyone would want the new and improved self-driving vehicles. All of this affects parts of the car industry and small businesses won’t be able to survive in this bustling economy of self-driving

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Autonomous Cars

    2089 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Benefits Of Autonomous Cars?

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    Autonomous cars has many benefits for us human beings living on this earth. Even though autonomous vehicles will have a negative impact on our economy, they claim to keep our environment clean while keeping us safe with advanced technology in the near future. As human driving errors become more of an issue for our safety and environment car manufactures are looking to invest into making autonomous cars to help save many lives and reduce the CO2 emissions by eliminating wasteful fuel consumption of fossil fuel. Autonomous cars won’t have much beneficial to our economy since it aims to replace or get rid of some jobs that doesn’t require much human interaction. Autonomous cars aim to be the most efficient and smart way of transportation to

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Driverless Cars

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    The engineering that goes into a driverless car covers all areas of mechanics, computing software and so on which still tends to frighten some drivers of its monstrosity on the inside. In the article “Google Cars Becoming Safer: Let the Robots Drive” it states that, “The economic lift from ridding the roads of human-driven vehicles would be over $190 billion per year. That would primarily come from reducing property damage caused by low-speed collisions”(Salkever). The point is that when driverless cars hit the road the cost of low-speed collision and save consumers money will be reduced. In the article “ Google Driverless Cars Run Into Problem: Cars With Drivers” Slakever states that “One Google car, in a test in 2009, couldn’t get through a four-way stop because its sensors kept waiting for other (human) drivers to stop completely and let it go. The human drivers kept inching forward, looking for the advantage — paralyzing Google’s robot”(Bosker). Current drivers have never followed the rule of the road, which have made the road more prone to any accident. Drivers have found the upper hand on not following traffic laws that makes manufacturing driverless car more meticulous to decrease accidents and breaking traffic laws. The fact that driverless car sensors can detect the errors of other human driven car is extraordinary. Human driven cars are trying to stick to the status quo of the roads when in reality human driven cars are breaking valuable innovation that will make the roads safe for generations to

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Driverless Vehicles

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    Driverless vehicles are gaining more and more popularity as their development continues. But, are its backers too obsessed with the novelty of a self-driving car to care about the problems that come with it? Is the allure of a driverless vehicle to strong to acknowledge the safety concerns? The government should not support driverless cars. Although it will make commuting easier for the millions of Americans who live and work in different cities, costs—both physical and mental—are too high and the technology is very unsafe.

    Read More

  • Self-Driving Cars Case Study

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    Driverless cars will operate best and save the greatest amount of lives if every vehicle on the road is also a self-driving car. This is a challenging goal to achieve; it will take years of increasing awareness of the benefits and eliminating the flawed technology of self-driving cars to influence all U.S. citizens in the car buying market to purchase the vehicle. The price must also be affordable to all levels of incomes which will also be difficult to achieve due to the progressiveness of the technology used to produce the vehicles. A serious problem arising with self-driving cars is that all technology has the possibility of being hacked. The security of the self-driving cars must be held to the highest standards to prevent any unauthorized users from gaining access to the vehicles’ system. The driverless cars are vulnerable to being controlled by hackers which can lead to dangerous situations of kidnapping and intentional accidents; vehicle owners’ personal information, such as home addresses and other private locations, can also be compromised. A long term drawback of self-driving cars is a reduced need for public transportation systems, such as taxis. Since those who cannot operate vehicles would be able to own cars that operated themselves, they would not need to use public transportation. This would lead to an increase of unemployment in transportation job

    Read More

  • Effects of Automobiles

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    Melosi, Martin V. “The Automobile Shapes the City.” Automobiles in American Life and Society. 2004-2010. Web. 26 November 2013.

    Read More

  • Cars In Our Lives Essay

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cars play a very important role in our lives. These days, we cannot imagine our lives without having a car. We use cars on a daily basis to get to work, school, and other events. Cars became part of the American culture in the1950s. In that era, the cars inspired authors, singers, and movie makers. Nowadays, we also refer to the “American car Culture” whenever we have a discussion about cars with each other. Cars have made our lives so easy because they are convenient and time-saving. Cars are also a symbol of a status for an individual in a society. If a person is wealthy, then he/she buys a luxury or sporty car, which isn’t affordable for everyone due to very high price. Cars reflect the psyche of the American people because they give them the feeling of independence, which we

    Read More

More about How Does Conventional Cars Affect Society

Open Document