Argumentative Essay On Driverless Cars

People often dream of flying cars, underwater cars, and driverless cars. These days, the dream of driverless cars is becoming real. Unfortunately, dreams often overlook practical issues, and the issues of driverless cars are too great to be overlooked. An autonomous car is what it sounds like, a car without a driver. On the currently existing cars, there are all the normal features of a car, with a map of roads, and an an emergency steering wheel and pedals. What these cars do not have, however, is guaranteed safety. Although driverless cars would be an easy source of convenience and comfort, there are many concerns that need to be addressed.

Driverless cars currently have small maps of roads installed that stretch only so far. When these cars become public, companies will need to install

larger maps to enable the car to travel wherever the passenger wants. In order to install these maps, the companies will need to chart information on roads all across the country, including smaller back roads. The reason is so owners will be able to get around his or her particular neighborhood. So, if the cars do not have all roads mapped, the customers will not be able to drive.

Another huge issue of self-driving cars is the expense. Companies such as Google, Nissan, and Mercedes-Benz have produced a miniscule amount of futuristic cars, and it has already cost them. Estimates say that producing one driverless car will cost about $7,000 to $10,000 more than a regular car. Estimates also say that the cost will slowly drop 10 to 15 years from now, and customers will want their cars to be affordable as soon as possible.

While testing the autonomous cars, several problems were found, many of them relating to safety.

One problem is the maps inside the cars. While the maps have included stoplights, road turns, intersections, and a few crosswalks, the cars cannot detect temporary stop signs and other road signs. These computer driven cars cannot read into unusual situations either, such as split second decisions in the event of a car crash, avoiding roadkill or potholes, or stopping for a pedestrian at an unofficial crosswalk. Those are just a few examples. Also, when driverless cars become popular on roads, they will be on the road with the manually driven cars, and the chances of a crash will not decrease. Another big safety concern is the arising problem of the ability to hack into cars. Some tests have been run on regular cars already, proving that a manually driven car could be hacked from an outside source. When a car was hacked, the hacker was able to crash the car by applying the gas, applying brakes, or steering, without being inside the car. If manually driven cars can be hacked, questions arise: What about the computer driven autonomous cars? How can they be protected from being

hacked?

However appealing, comforting, and convenient autonomous cars may seem, these arising problems must be attended to. Customers with the inability to be driven around their own neighborhood due to incomplete maps is outrageous. Car companies should not be having to contend with expenses of these vehicles. Most importantly, passengers of driverless cars need to have guaranteed safety of their ride before any cars are purchased. All of the these crucial points must not be overlooked for the safety, convenience, and comfort of future customers and passengers of driverless cars.