How Will Self-Driving Cars Help Reduce Car Accidents?

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Thousands of people die every year in car accidents. Victims of car accidents sometimes have lifelong medical issues, increased insurance rates, and emotional traumas causing them to be afraid to drive again. If people are unable to drive, they could potentially have loss of income or loss of their jobs. Will self-driving cars help reduce car accidents? Do car accidents affect people’s car insurance premiums? Traffic accidents are problems that need to be addressed before more people are killed or injured. People are killed in car accidents every day. The statistics show that “traffic crashes are responsible for over 1 million deaths” every year (Dharmaratne). A large number of people die in the crashes, as well as afterwards due to medical …show more content…

Research estimates “that driverless cars could, by midcentury, reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90 percent” (Lafrance). People will not have to worry that much about being in an accident anymore. The human errors from driving such as vision, response time, and driving experience will be removed from the equation. The cars will be able to communicate with each other. A benefit to self-driving cars is “autonomous road transportation systems” (Salido). All cars will be able to communicate with each other and will know the velocities and coordinates of every other car. Cars will be built with a “brain” to help eliminate most crashes. Self-driving cars will help prevent most accidents, but they can also provide other …show more content…

Self-driving cars are based on new technology and can be “linked to extremely costly outcomes and deaths” (Dietterich and Horvitz). Mistakes can happen with technology. Although some glitches will happen, the few accidents that do happen will be minimal compared to the number of accidents that would be prevented. Technology can be hacked and is “as vulnerable as any other software to cyberattack” (Dietterich and Horvitz). Bad things can happen even with the most secure defenses. Obstacles will exist, such as people not being open to new ideas. Should even a minor problem occur with the cars, people may not welcome the advanced technology. However, in the big picture, autonomous cars will help prevent most

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