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Pros And Cons Of Autonomous Vehicles

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Table of Contents

Introduction 2
Autonomous Vehicles Defined 3
Milestones in AV History 4
Safety/ Regulation/ Liability 6
Environmental Conservation 17
Economic Change 21
Concluding Remarks 27

Abstract: Since its foundation of the commercial auto industry in the late 1800s, cars have become progressively safe and convenient. Although self-driving cars may still seem like a realm of science fiction novels, many carmakers project self-driving cars will be available before 2020. This report initiates by describing background and key definitions of current capabilities as well as opportunities and risks for existing carmakers are reviewed, along with a discussion on the impact of such advances …show more content…

Many of these accidents are avoidable, and an alarming number of them are a result of distracted driving. Automakers are developing complex programmed modules that allow cars to drive themselves. In the early decades of the 21st century, the industry appears to be on the cusp of revolutionary change with the potential to dramatically reshape the way consumers interact with vehicles and the future design of our roadways and cities. Throughout the last century, innovation within the automotive engineering industry has brought significant technological advances leading to safer, cleaner, and more affordable vehicles. Fully autonomous vehicles or AVs are becoming increasingly viable as a technology and may soon dominate the automotive industry. Large corporations such as General Motors, Google, and Tesla are racing to build autonomous vehicles for a radically changing consumer world. Ongoing research has created significant growth in bringing computerization into what has, for over a century, been exclusively a human function: driving. Self–driving cars have the potential to change transportation systems by averting deadly crashes, providing road safety, conserve energy and the environment. Furthermore, as driving functions become increasingly automated, technical …show more content…

Since Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line, changes in the auto industry have been evolutionary. Before Ford's contribution, in late 15th century, Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci sketched a clockwork cart that would hypothetically travel a fixed route under its power (Crelin). Although this proposed vehicle is believed to have never built, the sketch demonstrates our longstanding interest in self-driving cars (Crelin). Gradually, inventors and engineers developed automated systems for trains, airplanes, and in the early twentieth century, many automakers sought to extend this science to the automobile. Nonetheless, such experiments with this technology sparked further public interest in self-driving cars, and such vehicles further captured the public imagination with recognition to Norman Bel Geddes's Futurama exhibit sponsored by General Motors at the 1939 World's Fair. Showing electric cars powered by circuits embedded in the roadway and controlled by radio that could maintain a safe distance between each other. Over the following decades, many researchers worked to develop vehicles that would require zero or significantly reduced input by human drivers. In the 1980s, Mercedes-Benz robotic car, designed by Ernst Dickmanns and his team at the Bundeswehr University Munich in Munich, Germany, achieved 62 mph on streets without traffic (Crelin). In 1995, Dickmanns ́

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