Self Driving Cars

Just imagine twenty years from now, not teaching our children to drive because they won't need to drive. Driver’s licenses will be trivial and irrelevant. By then, self-driving cars will be more than three-quarters of all the cars on the road, driving people everywhere they need to go faster, easier, and safer. Self-driving cars work by using an array of sensors such as LiDAR, Radar, and cameras to generate a physical map of what is around the car. Very complex algorithms then look at the map and decide what is happening in real time to decide how the car should or should not react. For example, if a car passing a driverless car on the highway cuts in front of it, the driverless car would see that another car cut in front of it, and its

Fortunately, self-driving cars will fix many of the problems that cause gridlock. Self-driving cars are created to offer “better perception. . . , better decision making . . . , and better execution . . . ” (Kalra and Paddock). Better perception will eliminate the risk of drunk and distracted driving, as well as places the driver can’t see, like what is happening multiple cars ahead and in their blind spot. Better decision making and execution will reduce many cases of road rage and help with hard parking maneuvers, for instance, parallel parking. Human error is the cause of over 93 percent of crashes (Smith). Simply eliminating human error in driving could reduce 1.3 million traffic deaths a year to only ninety-one thousand a year (Bryant; Road Crash Statistics). However, self-driving cars are not perfect either. They have trouble with sensors in bad weather because rain and snow can reflect the light it uses to sense its surroundings (Gomes). Once self-driving cars can overcome these obstacles, they will be even safer. Traffic will be obsolete when cars can see and think better than people can, in an attempt to make everyone’s lives

When they were invented, it was to get people to places faster. Now, people need for cars to do more than just get them places. Cars need to make people’s lives easier, and autonomous cars can do that and more. Most people who are busy and overscheduled would give anything for more time. The average American wastes over two days a year sitting in traffic (INRIX). All this time could be used to do things that people enjoy doing, instead of sitting in a car. Some car companies are also coming out with smart virtual assistants similar to Siri or Alexa. They are similar except that the ones in cars will be able to predict the driver’s and the passenger’s mood. By looking at their facial expressions and their pattern, it can sense their moods and suggest anything from a new restaurant if they’re hungry to playing happy songs if they seem sad (Greenemeier). Soon, cars will be able to get people places faster than ever, but with somebody who understands them