Autonomous Vehicles

Driverless cars are the technology of the future. There is no longer a need to drive using your hands, just type in your destination in the GPS, and the car gets you there. These cars are still being tested, but they are expected to get on the roads soon. There are some drawbacks that have held up the process to let these cars on the roads, but the companies will fix these problems. Driverless cars have a lower crash rate than humans, they are safe, and don’t make mistakes like people do on the road.

Imagine being able to get into your car and simply typing in your desired destination, and then reclining your seat to watch a movie or text a friend. During this time, the car is basically driving itself. Well, soon this may be possible this invention is called an autonomous car. An autonomous car, or driverless/ robotic car, is a car that is designed to drive without human interference. Essentially, drivers can program their destination into the car’s GPS system and then sit back and relax. Some of the world’s largest car companies are currently creating autonomous vehicles, such as Audi, Toyota, Volvo, Mercedes, and countless others. The driverless vehicle is now becoming a clearer and more present reality, and has been discussed and planned for decades. The autonomous vehicle offers significant benefits, but raises many questions and difficulties.

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right!” Henry ford said this to us and was able to prove it when he created the Model T car. Nobody thought it was possible to create a more reliable, affordable car but he knew he could, and he did it. Throughout the years we have been able to create newer technology for our cars making them safer, faster, and more affordable. Our technology has grown so much, that we have been able to create driverless cars. These cars are able to sense their surroundings around them, and drive without human association. But this raises a question for many, can a computer system replace a human at the wheel?

Cars are now becoming much more aware and these cars are available to the general public. In 2005 there was a course for autonomous vehicles and no car completed a tenth of the course(Guerra). These cars can now park themselves, raise their wheels to avoid potholes, check if you are drifting out of your lane, check out your blind spots, they know if any object is behind you when you are backing up and most important Tesla released a car that could drive itself on highways. Eleven years ago cars like this were science fiction and in 20 years they might become commercially available (Guerra). This is the start of self-driving cars being in the hands of ordinary people and not a test group. Some people my opt out of owning a self-driving car, however they will still need to

First driverless cars are much less likely to crash. In fact “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that between 93 percent and 95 percent of car accidents are caused by human error” (par. 5, Tribune). This study displays

Are Americans ready for cars that can drive themselves?, will it be safe for “ai’s” on the road instead of normal human drivers?, and how will this be beneficial to traffic, crashes, and time? In the Newsela article, “pro/con: self-driving cars are just around the corner. Is it a good thing?”, By Tribune News Service, Self-driving cars remove many of the human mistakes that cause injuries and deaths. Self-driving cars can also help disabled and elderly people get from place to place on their own. The self-driving cars that are now being developed use many forms of technology to drive themselves. Radar, cameras and other devices are used to "see" the world around the car. Advanced computer systems drive the car from one destination to another without any help from humans. Self-driving cars offer such a wealth of advantages that it makes little difference whether Americans are ready. Americans need to get ready. Self-driving cars will soon be in their rearview mirrors.

In her article “To Hit the Road, Driverless Cars Must Be Safe, Not Perfect,” Nidhi Kalra argues that because humans are untrustworthy when it comes to safe driving, we should adapt to driverless cars. She provides three premises to support her argument. First, she presents the data of deaths and injuries that were caused by human mistakes. Second, she points out that even though driverless cars may never reach perfection, they would never make miscalculations or mistakes that human drivers make all the time, such as drunk driving, drowsy driving, or driving with distraction. Third, she argues that driverless cars offer benefits such as bettering mobility and efficiency, reducing congestion costs and land use. With these primary premises, Kalra persuades that driverless cars should hit the road one day to reduce amounts of accidents that are likely made by human drivers.

Most people believe that these self-driving cars are going to make our roads much safer than they are with human drivers. According to an article titled “Road Crash Statistics” by the Association for Safe International Road Travel, “nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year, on average 3,287 a day.” They also claim that road crashes is the ninth leading cause of death. Obviously automobiles are dangerous, but they are also very effective for transportation. According to Statista there were over 7 million cars sold to U.S. customers in 2014. Even though automobiles have caused so many deaths, most people really need them.

According to today's society, we can see a drastic change in technology today. Most Americans today tend to believe that self-driving cars are going to become very widespread over the next couple decades. The purpose of self-driving cars are to dramatically reduce traffic accidents; In other words, self-driving cars will be safer and more efficient than a normal car. For example, Psychologist Peter Hancock in his article titled, “Are Autonomous Cars Really Safer Than Human Drivers” asserts that over 90 percent of car crashes in the U.S. have been due to human error. ASIRT (Association for safe international road travel) has also calculated that, “Over 1.3 million people die every year from

In about a decade, self driving cars have transformed from a distant, futuristic dream to a close certainty. As people begin to acclimate to the idea of self-driving cars, developers, such as Google, Tesla, Audi, and Nissan race to create the best, road-ready, consumer-ready vehicles that are able to navigate our streets independently.

Imagine sitting in a self-driving car. Time to kick back and relax, take your eyes off the road and have a meaningful conversation with your passengers. There’s just one problem. The car in front of yours stopped abruptly. You were not paying attention, so you cannot react in time. The computer has a choice. To crash into the car, killing you, or to swerve and hit the motorcyclist beside you, killing him. What choice should the car make? As a human, you could probably avoid killing anyone by quickly analysing the situation and do some maneuver that would avoid anyone dying, but so far, no computer can do that with enough speed. This is why Self-driving cars should be avoided. They do not give you more of an advantage, the

Google has announced that their self-driving cars will be on the road in two to five years. The company hopes that they will in America by 2020 but even if they are not people wonder if they will be safe and if we are ready to share the road with these vehicles. I believe that we will be ready for self-driving cars on the roads because we already have vehicles with system to prevent collisions such as early warnings and automatic lane changing from tesla motors. John Villasenor is a professor of electrical engineering and public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, he is also a member of the World Economic Forum's Global

If the legal driving age was raised, seatbelt laws were made the priority, speed limits were lowered, safety features were mandatory in all vehicles, and laws were enforced there would be fewer accidents. If these ideas were put into action, imagine what the fatality rates would look like if the leading causes of fatal accidents were fixed or changed. We could fix what self-driving cars claim they will fix without the self-driving car its self, making the need for these cars unnecessary.

One of the major incentives for developing autonomous vehicles is the potential impact on vehicle safety. In 2009, there were 10.8 million motor vehicle accidents in the US, resulting in 35,900 deaths (Census 2012). It’s estimated that over 90% of all accidents are due to

Extensive automation for cars focuses on either introducing robotic cars or modifying modern car design to be semi-autonomous. These could be implemented sooner as they rely less on technology that is still at the forefront of research.