Driverless Cars
Imagine having your life flash before your eyes while you were still wearing diapers. And imagine having a hot hunk of metal crash into you and shatter your sense of everything. When I was just three years old, I was the victim of a very scary car accident. While waiting to make a turn into my nursery school, my mom’s car was rear-ended by a car driving at 50 miles per hour. I remember how incredibly loud the collision was and even how the windows seemed to shiver in their rubber holders. Seeing my mom's head fly back and feeling the car swerve into the opposing traffic, I thought I was going to die. And why did this happen? Because the person driving behind us was texting on her phone and was not focused on the road. All of this, the emotional, physical, and financial damage, and the possibility of losing my mom's or my own life, could have been prevented if the car behind us was a driverless car. Briefly, a driverless car is capable of driving itself via an intricate system of cameras, sensors and computers. I propose that human drivers should be replaced with driverless cars because driverless cars are safer and more efficient.
One reason driverless cars should replace human drivers is because they are safer and offer a comprehensive solution to a problem that plagues the entire world – automobile accidents. Currently, according to Ryan C. C. Chin, around 1.2 million deaths occur worldwide each year due to automotive accidents (1) and in the U.S. alone “more than 37,000 people died in car accidents in 2008, 90% of which died from human mistake” (Markoff 2). Most of these accidents involving human error are caused by fatigued, inattentive, or intoxicated drivers. However, according to Sergey Brin’s the Pros and...
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...ption, they will also make taking longer trips more economically feasible. Therefore, driverless cars will only fuel our adventure seeking spirit, not extinguish it. Ultimately, while our instincts tell us to be wary of this new technology, the indisputable facts suggest that these fears are largely unfounded and that driverless cars will be an enormous improvement over human drivers.
Now anytime I see a car accident on the road or read about one in the newspaper, I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if my mom hadn't been able to steer the car out of the oncoming traffic after our accident. We were lucky. We survived. But people are not always lucky and that is why we need driverless cars. Because they will make driving quicker, more efficient, and most importantly, significantly safer. So here's to the future. To driverless cars and a safer tomorrow.
Have you ever feared that your loved one or even someone very close to you will be involved in a fatal car accident every time they left the house? Drunk driving is a factor in nearly one-third of all fatal accidents. Even if you aren’t the one driving, you are still at risk any moment to get involved in an accident that could’ve been prevented. By legalizing fully self-driving cars, we won’t have to fear the pain of losing a loved one. We could have a quick fix to all of this madness easily. The number of traffic accidents are soaring at 1.3 million deaths a year. Drunk Driving is still one of the number one causes of vehicle deaths; therefore, the government should allow self-driving cars to become legal to combat the issue. If we don’t act now to combat this issue we will have to deal with the consequences it will bring.
Who’s to blame when the vehicle gets in a severe car accident? Advances in technology, like self-driving cars, will be bad because it causes people to be lazy, it takes away the responsibility of the driver, it takes away the responsibility of the driver, and it can malfunction causing accidents.
Drunk driving, sleeping at the wheel, and loss of control of a vehicle could be a thing of the past when it comes to new innovations being made towards self-driving cars. When one thinks of a “self-driving” car, it means not having to pay attention to the actual driving and going about putting make-up on or playing on your phone while the car takes you where you want to go, sounds completely sci-fi, but it is likely to happen in the near future. With advances in technology, the car is able to use satellites, cameras, and sensors to take the driver where he or she needs to go. Many companies are researching, manufacturing, and testing different
Driverless cars are already starting to show signs of safer driving. In a test, drive exercise the driverless car demonstrated another vehicle cutting in front of the driverless car. While it was driving itself, still traveling at 100 km per hour the driverless car immediately braked to adjust its speed to maintain a safe distance behind the vehicle that cut in front and slightly moved the steering wheel to stay centre in the lane. It is said that in a situation such as this a human might have overreacted or shake the steering wheel which could of caused the car to steer into another vehicle or off the
On May 7th, 2016, Joshua Brown became the first casualty of an autonomous car crash. Many other automobile accidents occurred that day, and some of those accidents also resulted in death. Mr. Brown’s accident gathered widespread attention because the autonomous car he was riding in failed, while in autopilot mode, to identify a transport truck crossing the highway and the result was a tragedy. This incident serves as a warning that automation only makes us more safe if we remain engaged in the task of driving. The National Safety Council believes that there is a road to zero deaths and this road involves automation of driver functions (NSC, n.d.), but what is our responsibility as drivers in this time of increasing automation?
...ailable provide much more protection than harm to humans. Automotive makers should continue to offer safe features and advance the possibilities of a collision-free future as much as possible. Attention must also be turned to the potential harm new features could cause. Safety features should be a precaution, or safety net, to true accidents that happen. They should not continue to replace bad driving habits that are abundant in our country. By allowing computer technology to provide an instant fix to human error, the error itself is never corrected. When involving something as deadly as vehicle accidents, fixing the error is just as, if not more, critical as providing a safety net. The ninth commandment: thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing. How far will vehicle safety go until computers are driving the car for us?
While many people are all about autonomous cars and the benefits that they will bring to society, there are people who oppose driver less cars. Google has faced major censure from critics that are uneasy with the method that the automobile will u...
Are driverless cars really needed in today's society? Many people and big businesses think so. Going on a road trip? click a button, sit back relax and wait until you arrive at your destination. Many, however, are skeptical of these driverless cars, Both sides have very good reasons for their beliefs but most people believe this is going to give the government too much control.
There will be a day when driving will not require a license. Children will be traveling on their own, teens will be texting while driving, adults will be doing their jobs while driving, and the elderly who are visually or physically impaired will be able to transport themselves (Symonds). This will be made possible through new technological car advancements that will enable a car to be driverless. With technology increasing exponentially, and our everyday lives getting busier and busier, we need a solution. Weeks of productivity are lost each year by Americans (Pollette). Driverless cars will cause this issue to vanish by reducing delays and smoothing traffic flow (Winston). Most technology will have flaws, and this is also true for driverless cars’ technology. Improvements are being made to enhance the car (Pollette), but accidents will still take place. Despite the flaws, driverless cars will make trips shorter, and when trips are long, we will be able to multitask.
Have you ever been on your way to work, and traffic holds up and tests not only your patience, but your sanity. More than likely, there was someone on the road or highway who has gotten into an accident.Now what if I were to tell you google has mass produced a vehicle that drives itself? Well, why should that interest me?, you may be asking yourself. But wouldn’t it be great if you did not need to pay compensation for an accident that was wrongfully blamed on you, because of smart computing. Or how about having a chauffeur that drives safer and more precise than any human has. If things like safety or efficiency doesn’t grasp your attention, maybe the simple fact that anyone can get in one of these cars,sleep and relax as the car drives to your destination. So now allow me to convince you why driverless cars should be allowed on roadways.
Many times, we find ourselves distracted while behind the wheel of a vehicle, whether it be because of our cell phone use or our wandering minds. This lack of attention to the road and awareness of the vehicles around us has led to countless avoidable accidents. Reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHFTA), ten percent of fatal crashes and fourteen percent of all highway crashes were caused by distracted drivers in the year 2015 (NHFTA). A world free of distracted drivers would allow for everyone on the roads to have a little more peace of mind knowing their chance of being in an accident is much lower. That world is a possibility in the near future due to the advancements in driverless car technologies.
Human drivers have instincts that cannot be duplicated by technology, but by that same token human error is not a part of a self-driving car. In addition, we also need to take into consideration the transition period, when there are self-driving cars as well as human drivers on the road. Humans can notice the other drivers physically signal to go-ahead, when at a four way stop sign or; offer an opening for the merging lane. This is an example of what human interaction is capable of, that self-driving cars will need to calculate in order to
Inventors hope to help people with autonomous cars because “autonomous cars can do things that human drivers can’t” (qtd. in “Making Robot Cars More Human). One of the advantages that driverless cars have is that “They can see through fog or other inclement weather, and sense a stalled car or other hazard ahead and take appropriate action” (qtd. in “Making Robot Cars More Human). Harsh weather conditions make it difficult and dangerous for people to drive, however, the car’s ability to drive through inclement weather “frees the user’s time, creates opportunities for individuals with less mobility, and increases overall road safety” (Bose 1326). With all the technology and software in the car, it can “improve road traffic system[s] and reduces road accidents” (Kumar). One of the purposes for creating the driverless car was to help “make lives easier for senior citizens, people with disabilities, people who are ill, or people who are under influence of alcohol” (Kumar). It can be frightening to know that that we share share our roads with drivers that could potentially endanger our lives as well as other people’s lives. How can people not feel a sense of worry when “cars kill roughly 32,000 people a year in the U.S.” (Fisher 60)? Drivers who text while driving or drink and drive greatly impact the safety of other people, and Google hopes to reduces the risk of accidents and save lives with the
Automotive executives touting self-driving cars as a way to make commuting more productive or relaxing may want to consider another potential marketing pitch: safety (Hirschauge, 2016). The biggest reason why these cars will make a safer world is that accident rates will enormously drop. There is a lot of bad behavior a driver exhibit behind the wheel, and a computer is actually an ideal motorist. Since 81 percent of car crashes are the result of human error, computers would take a lot of danger out of the equation entirely. Also, some of the major causes of accidents are drivers who become ill at the time of driving. Some of the examples of this would be a seizure, heart attack, diabetic reactions, fainting, and high or low blood pressure. Autonomous cars will surely remedy these types of occurrences making us
However, driverless cars should be tested more due to the lack of knowledge because of growing concerns around hacking, lack of confidence for the driver and the job and economic boost it could implode. The engineering that goes into a driverless car covers all areas of mechanics, computing software and so on, which still tends to frighten some drivers of its monstrosity on the inside. In the article “Google Cars Becoming Safer: Let the Robots Drive” it states that, “The economic lift from ridding the roads of human-driven vehicles would be over $190 billion per year. That would primarily come from reducing property damage caused by low-speed collisions”(Salkever).