Self-driving cars have become a trendy topic of discussion recently, and the main moral dilemma discussed is basically a reiteration of “the trolley problem”- in the event of an unavoidable accident, would the cars hit a pedestrian in order to save the driver? Should they sacrifice the driver in order to save several pedestrians? Because it is ethically impossible to put value to human lives, it is impossible to prove an answer correct. However, it should be clear that human lives are more valuable than the reputation of corporations. Because manufacturers would be held responsible for driverless-car-related accidents, producers are withholding the cars until they are as safe as possible, especially since possible buyers are doubtful from …show more content…
Corporations fear that they could be faced with an excess of lawsuits if driverless cars go commercial before they are as safe as possible. While it is good that they focus on improving safety before release, how safe do they need to be? Up to 90% of accidents are due to or are partially caused by driver error (Smith). Schellekens’ article points out that “The standard ‘as safe as a human driven car’ could be made more precise in the following ways: The automated car should statistically be safer than human drivers, or the automated car should be safer than the best human driver.” Since driver error is so common, the first would be an improvement and could still save many lives just by preventing a few drunk or distracted driving accidents and statistically, some self-driving cars are already safer than the average driver. According to Allstate, the average rate American drivers have driving accidence is once every 10 years, and according to the Federal Highway Administration, the average mileage per year is 16,550, meaning on average, U.S. drivers have one accident every 165,000 miles. Between 2009 and May 2015, Google’s self-driving car program reported 12 collisions in one million miles of autonomous driving on the road, meaning one collision every 83,000 miles. Of these 12 collisions, 5 reports include the words “was rear-ended by another vehicle” and 8 happened while being manually driven or the driver took control at the time of impact (Google Self-Driving Car Project Monthly Report). But designers are holding back until the cars are as safe as possible, for their own protection. While Google’s driving software is not yet equipped to handle conditions such as weather and construction, drivers would still be able to take control when they see fit
Since the industrial revolution, the field of engineering has allowed society to flourish through the development of technological advances at an exponential rate. Similar to other professionals, engineers are tasked with making ethical decisions, especially during the production and distribution processes of new inventions. One field that has encountered ethical dilemmas since its inception is the automotive industry. Today, the dawn of the autonomous, self-driving, vehicle is upon us. In this new-age mode of transportation, humans will be less responsible for decisions made on the road. With the wide adoption of autonomous vehicles, there exist a possibility to reduce traffic-related accidents. Even though computers have the ability
Have you ever feared that your loved one or even someone very close to you will be involved in a fatal car accident every time they left the house? Drunk driving is a factor in nearly one-third of all fatal accidents. Even if you aren’t the one driving, you are still at risk any moment to get involved in an accident that could’ve been prevented. By legalizing fully self-driving cars, we won’t have to fear the pain of losing a loved one. We could have a quick fix to all of this madness easily. The number of traffic accidents are soaring at 1.3 million deaths a year. Drunk Driving is still one of the number one causes of vehicle deaths; therefore, the government should allow self-driving cars to become legal to combat the issue. If we don’t act now to combat this issue we will have to deal with the consequences it will bring.
Who fault is it when a driverless car gets into an accident? Google is the primary car and vehicle creators, and the government’s actions both in the U.S. and overseas are spending nearly billions of dollars to care the growth of the vehicle technology with the possible to make highway travel way more harmless than it is nowadays. How does someone apportion blame between a vehicle’s mechanical systems and an actual human driver? Is it the software the blame for the accident or was it the hardware? These sorts of problems have led to proposals that liability will be a problem when these driverless cars are released to the public.
One reason driverless cars should replace human drivers is because they are safer and offer a comprehensive solution to a problem that plagues the entire world – automobile accidents. Currently, according to Ryan C. C. Chin, around 1.2 million deaths occur worldwide each year due to automotive accidents (1) and in the U.S. alone “more than 37,000 people died in car accidents in 2008, 90% of which died from human mistake” (Markoff 2). Most of these accidents involving human error are caused by fatigued, inattentive, or intoxicated drivers. However, according to Sergey Brin’s the Pros and...
While many people are all about autonomous cars and the benefits that they will bring to society, there are people who oppose driver less cars. Google has faced major censure from critics that are uneasy with the method that the automobile will u...
One reason why self-driving should not replace human drivers is because instead of solving day to day issues that are presented on the road they instead create more problems. For example, unlike a human driver who relies on their survival skills and intelligence these self-driving cars rely on their “perfect”
In normal automobile operation, the number of incidents where the driver has to choose between two options that both involve killing innocents is practically zero. So, while manufacturers may find clever solutions to these more extreme ethical dilemmas, and while lawyers and lawmakers may find a way to limit the carmakers’ liability, there are a number of ethical problems that self-driving cars may face that neither the manufacturers, the programmers, or the lawyers will consider. That is—while programmers may find ways to encode their explicit, idealized ethical rulesets into the cars, and even if these rulesets are (somehow) universally correct, and everyone agrees that its decisions are perfect—all humans have implicit biases, prejudices, and heuristics. These are unconscious, yet reflected in all of our actions. Troublingly, because they are unconscious, they are often also unacknowledged.
Driverless cars would make a huge change for the lives in America. One reason we should have self-driving cars is because many car accidents are caused by human errors. In the article, “Self-Driving Cars are Just Around the Corner. Is it Good or Bad?,” it talks about how over 32,000 people each year die because of car accidents. Also, it says that 93%-95% of the these accidents are caused by human mistakes.
In July 12, The New York Times reported a news: “Inside the self-driving Tesla fatal accident”, which again caused enormous debates on whether self-driving cars should be legal or not.
According to Lauren Keating, the 2014 estimate of motor vehicle fatalities reported by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an estimated 32,675 people died in car crashes (n.p.). In Keating's research, the Eno Center for Transportation believes in finding driver error is the main reason behind over 90 percent of all crashes, with drunk driving, distracted drivers, failure to remain in one lane, and failing to yield the right of way being the main causes (n.p.). Because the majority of these accidents is caused by human error, self-driving cars take away these human errors by taking away human control thus potentially reducing the rate of automobile-related death. Autonomous cars use modern technology to make the roads
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
Inventors hope to help people with autonomous cars because “autonomous cars can do things that human drivers can’t” (qtd. in “Making Robot Cars More Human). One of the advantages that driverless cars have is that “They can see through fog or other inclement weather, and sense a stalled car or other hazard ahead and take appropriate action” (qtd. in “Making Robot Cars More Human). Harsh weather conditions make it difficult and dangerous for people to drive, however, the car’s ability to drive through inclement weather “frees the user’s time, creates opportunities for individuals with less mobility, and increases overall road safety” (Bose 1326). With all the technology and software in the car, it can “improve road traffic system[s] and reduces road accidents” (Kumar). One of the purposes for creating the driverless car was to help “make lives easier for senior citizens, people with disabilities, people who are ill, or people who are under influence of alcohol” (Kumar). It can be frightening to know that that we share share our roads with drivers that could potentially endanger our lives as well as other people’s lives. How can people not feel a sense of worry when “cars kill roughly 32,000 people a year in the U.S.” (Fisher 60)? Drivers who text while driving or drink and drive greatly impact the safety of other people, and Google hopes to reduces the risk of accidents and save lives with the
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
Automotive executives touting self-driving cars as a way to make commuting more productive or relaxing may want to consider another potential marketing pitch: safety (Hirschauge, 2016). The biggest reason why these cars will make a safer world is that accident rates will enormously drop. There is a lot of bad behavior a driver exhibit behind the wheel, and a computer is actually an ideal motorist. Since 81 percent of car crashes are the result of human error, computers would take a lot of danger out of the equation entirely. Also, some of the major causes of accidents are drivers who become ill at the time of driving. Some of the examples of this would be a seizure, heart attack, diabetic reactions, fainting, and high or low blood pressure. Autonomous cars will surely remedy these types of occurrences making us
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