Driverless Cars Research Paper

Imagine a future, where nobody ever has to risk their lives, on a daily basis transporting themselves wherever they need to go; rather, a robotic chauffeur will do it for them. Autonomous cars (also known as driverless cars, or self driving cars) may seem like a far off prediction for the future, but the reality of driverless cars is coming faster than one might think. Driverless cars are in some ways an end result of over a hundred years of engineering. Ever since the first cars, automotive engineers have been inventing and innovating ways to make cars safer and simpler to drive, inventions and innovations such as, automatic transmission, anti-lock brakes, traction control, airbags, cruise control, seat belts, drive by wire, adaptive cruise

Driverless cars will make traffic flow much more efficiently. Since these cars are able to talk to each other, plan their routes, and share their routes with each other, intersections could be streamlined, greatly increasing the efficiency of roads everywhere (Hosansky 5). And, since driverless cars will have fewer accidents, there will be less congestion on the roads due to accidents. This would greatly benefit Wisconsin, the country, and the entire world. This reduction of traffic congestion will lower emissions due to people sitting in traffic, wasting gas, thus reducing pollution in cities, and benefiting the environment. Furthermore, currently in the U.S., $100,000,000,000 in productivity and gas is lost sitting in traffic every year (Hosansky 5). Current cars only use 5% of the space on the road because most drivers use following distances of about 150 feet on the highway (Hosansky 6). Driverless cars could minimize following distances to around twenty feet because sensors can sense and maintain following distances to the next car. This would increase the amount of the road that is actually used, which would maximize traffic flow (Hosansky 6). As a result, cars could travel in high speed swarms. This idea was demonstrated in 1997, when a group of engineers successfully sent a swarm of Buicks, spaced just 15 feet apart, down a highway near San Diego (Tierney 2-3). Additionally, people won’t necessarily need to own their own car; instead, anyone who wanted to go somewhere could just order a driverless car (most likely with an app on their phone), and the car will then drive them to their destination (Hosansky 2). It is almost like a driverless taxi. This idea will allow people to save money that they otherwise would have spent on a car, and these taxis will mobilize all kinds of people, physically disabled who can’t drive; people who wouldn’t be able to afford a car; young people who