Driverless Cars : The Good, The Bad, And The Ethical

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.

Vehicles have now been around more than a hundred years. However, the industry of cars is now on the verge of becoming totally revolutionized. Many automobile brands are currently working on developing and testing autonomous vehicles, better known as self-driving cars. The goal of this project is to completely eliminate human interactions with the vehicle. By this means, 10 million autonomous vehicles are expected to be on the road by 2020 and become mainstream by the year of 2030. However, many feel as if this project has no purpose. Cars were meant to be driven and people feel that autonomous vehicles will drastically upset the thriving U.S

    Driverless vehicles, or the self-driving car, is defined as any car with features that allow it to accelerate, brake, and steer a car’s course with limited or no driver interaction (BI Intelligence par.4). When most people hear the term “driverless vehicle”, people instantly think cars that drive all by themselves, meaning that the vehicles are able to completely control themselves while the driver can sit back in the driver’s seat as if they were the passenger. The reality is that it will actually be a few years before fully self-automated vehicles will make their debut on the road, but for now the car companies and manufacturers are adding self-driving features of the latest models of cars. For example, the 2016 BMW i3 has the capability to self-park itself without the need of the driver to control the steering wheel. This reduces the risk of the driver hitting another vehicle while

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?

Similarly, the article “The Moral Challenges of Driverless Cars” explains how driverless cars will be a safer alternative. It explains how humans are more prone to cause an accident than the driverless cars. The article describes the processing behind the vehicles and some problems they face while making them along with how this will delay their production. It also clarifies how the cars will be able to make the decisions that will keep people safe instead of putting them in harm’s way. Finally, the article describes the ethical issues and automation in cars today. According to Kirkpatrick, the cars are equipped with software that determine what reaction to make in different situations that would take a human more time to make, therefore, avoiding an accident. As stated in this article, there is still much work to be done before the cars are actually ready to sell to the public.

Since the beginning of self-driving cars which first began in 1925 with the creation of the Houdina Radio Control; a car operated by two cars, a transmitter, and an antenna, to now - the futuristic dream of these autonomous cars have transformed into the reality of cars we see now. These cars are nothing short of the new technology advances that have occurred over the past decade. However, with these advances many question whether or not these cars are ready to be sold, due to the fatal accident that occurred May 2016 involving the autonomous Tesla and a white truck. Due to the Tesla not being able to detect the white tractor because of technological issues, the tesla failed to stop, and since the driver was not prepared to steer, it lead to the fatal collision eventually leading to the death of the tesla owner. With the increase of these cars on the road, from companies like BMW, Daimler, Ford, Apple, Uber, and Google, this poses a serious threat to not only the people operating this autonomous vehicle but also to the surrounding drivers. I believe that autonomous cars should not be put on the road, and that these cars are not beneficial to the population.

Autonomous cars were first thought up back in the 1930’s, but were never fully researched. Five years ago, Google announced that it would begin production of these modern marvels and around two years ago, driverless cars began to make their way to the streets for testing. In 2012, that these cars started to pick up speed (pun intended) and became popular. This year marks a grand milestone for the developers of the driverless car as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “is widely expected to announce standards and mandates for car-borne beacons” (Fisher, 2013). Currently, research and testing occurs quite often in the West Coast of the U.S. California and Arizona because of the open roads. So far three states have legalized Google’s driverless cars, but there is no law that requires cars to have drivers in the first place.

This kind of technology was developed with the intention of improving the quality of life of people by eliminating human error, which, as mentioned previously, accounts for 95% of all car crashes. When compared to autonomous vehicles, “researchers estimate that driverless cars could, by midcentury, reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90 percent.” (4) I believe engineers developed this technology acting on their duty to improve the quality of life of the public. I am an Electronic Systems Engineering Technology student and I am currently working on a senior design project, which consists of providing a certain level of autonomy to a go-kart. My team and I are developing a vehicle-to-vehicle communication and control system (V2VC2). My project is a baseline project that in the long run hopes to reduce the amount of human exposure in dangerous grounds. I have been working on this project for almost a year now and before starting it, I did extensive research on autonomous vehicles. With the knowledge I have gained after researching this topic and working on my project, I have developed a utilitarian view on the subject. I believe that engineers worked and continue to work hard to minimize the risk to people on the roads with the development of this technology. This kind of technology is fairly new, and it has caused human deaths, but its something engineers are still trying to improve with the end goal of minimizing human deaths. There is still a long way to go before this kind of technology is perfected, but there are trying to develop measures to prevent further damage to the

Figuring that an autonomous vehicle has been the dream of car owners for multiple decades, it can be concluded that society may not be very patient when it comes to the development of a self-driving car. This sense of urgency in parallel with something as complicated as a car that drives itself do not go hand-in-hand. Engineering and science have opened up many doors in the past 30 years concerning automobile technology. The possibility of autonomous cars being a normal means for transportation is growing, but is not ready to be implicated. Most

In recent discussions of growing technology, a controversial issue has been whether we are ready for the advancements of driverless vehicles. On the one hand, some argue that these advancements have already proven that we are ready. On the other hand, however, others argue that we need to have more experience with the technology before we can be ready. In sum, then, the issue is are we ready or not for driver-less cars. While others think that driverless vehicles can’t be trusted yet without a commission to help lawmakers with regulating the vehicles and government officials that know more about this technology to better watch over it, I believe that we are ready for this new evolving automobile because driverless vehicles already has too much potential beginning with its self-automated breaking system and warnings.

Opinions, reviews, and actions from consumers might per sway leaders on how driverless cars might affect the global standard of vehicles however; there are more questions than answers to the safety of humans. These cars are designed to work without a gas pedal and steering wheel. The LIDAR Technology measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analyzing the reflected light.

The concept of self-driving cars has been a dream of humankind since the invention of the first self-propelled vehicle. The notion of boarding a vehicle without having to be attentive or vigilant has driven the automotive industry over the years to seek an alternative to the driver-dependent car. Years of research and testing have led to major advancements in the technology necessary to operate these cars, leading many to believe that autonomous cars will be a reality in the very near future. As is the case with many innovations, however, a myriad of potential complications have been exposed along the way. Despite many possible upsides, the design, safety, and ethical concerns regarding the technology to be incorporated in these machines are the major hurdles that need to be cleared in order make autonomous cars feasible. These complications have begged the question, are self-driving cars truly in the best interest of society? An analysis of self-driving vehicles exhibits the inherent complications associated with the autonomous technology required to operate these machines.

Self-driving cars without a driver behind the wheel, is the start of a new era of vehicles. Imagine a society where there are no road traffic accidents and no road rage or speeding tickets, where cars drive themselves. However, there could be some moral ethics which can be very concerning when it comes to trolley problems that triggers many questions like: whose lives should be sacrificed in an unavoidable crash? Safety? And other ongoing questions. There are many advantages and disadvantages. That’s why in recent discussions many members of the Stanford community had a debate on the ethical issues that will arise when humans turn over the wheel to algorithms (Shashkevich 4). Arguments on how the world will change with driverless cars on the roads and how to make that future as ethical and responsible as possible are intensifying (Shashkevich 2). “The idea is to address the concerns upfront, designing good technology that fits into people’s social worlds” (Millar).

The invention of self-driving cars has been around since the 1960’s. However, the technology was never at the point to where the idea was feasible. But since the early 2000’s, self driving cars have become more of a reality rather than science fiction. In the past 2 years alone, self driving cars have made numerous strides in overall improvement and safety. Many people are still on the fence as to whether or not self driving cars are truly safer and more efficient on roadways. They fear the idea of not controlling the car and leaving it up the the AI to drive and get them to their destination safely. Thanks to new strides in AI technology, these cars can now detect accidents faster and avoid them, use significantly less fuel per mile, and are becoming cheaper to produce.