Carefully, the sensors of the Google car eye the pedestrian speculatively, signaling to the computer that there is a woman within the car’s radar. Abruptly, its wheels squeak to a stop, skid marks made evident. The occupant of the vehicle is engrossed in their movie, not noticing the sudden, jerking stop of the car or the floundering, panicking face of the driver behind. BOOM. CRASH. SCREAM. Their hearts shudder with trepidation. This is what happened between a self-driving car, a human-driven car, and one innocent human at a car accident of four miles per hour. Ever since the idea evolved in the 1920s, self-driving cars have been always admired — a robot driving your automobile. Now, in 2017, the U. S. government has been in the process of …show more content…
Even though the transfer from human-driven cars to autonomous cars is happening slowly, the U. S. government is acting swiftly by “ask [ing] that all companies involved in self-driving cars, from software coders to car builders to sensor makers to taxi fleet operators, submit safety assessments covering 15 different criteria to the NHTSA” (Pull over, Robot!). However, a majority perceive self-driving cars as an advantage for federal intelligence agencies to pry into personal information (PRO/CON: Self-driving cars). Self-driving cars is a fairly new boundary that the world has uncovered, but people do not know how much the government can influence the car manufacturers; in this case, to help their efficiency in collecting private information and other activities. Nevertheless, it has been widely noted that self-driving cars have functions that surpass the functions of a normal car, using their sensors that are designed to operate more proficiently than humans (5 Things). As that may be an attractive idealization, Neal Boudette, bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, observed inside the test drive for an autonomous car that the car “slowed down unexpectedly at one point, momentarily confused by a dark area on the road ahead” (5 Things). The concept of self-driving cars having “superior” senses is an ulterior motive for manufacturers as an advertising play towards other people, persuading them to empty out their wallets. One obvious fact remains true — these vehicles are not programmed to be
Self-driving cars are now hitting a few roadways in America, and are showing people just a small glimpse into what could be the future of automobiles. Although Google’s self-driving cars are getting a lot of attention now, the idea of a self-driving car has been around for quite a while actually. These cars have been tested to their limits, but the American people have yet to adopt the technology into their everyday lives. A brief description of their history, how they work, and finally answer the question, will self-driving cars ever be adopted widely by the American public?
Companies like Google, Tesla and Nissan, among others, have announced over the past few years that their companies are trying to develop self-driving or autonomous cars [Ref. 1 and 2]. Self-driving cars can provide many benefits to the average consumer. Studies have shown that because computers can react and process information many times faster than a human being, crashes on streets and roads can be decreased with quick and consistent evasion maneuvers by the autonomous car. They can also help maximize fuel economy by calculating the most direct and fastest routes. When the driving of an autonomous car demonstrates that the computer can safely and reliably transport the passengers to their destination, this frees up the passengers to do other things that they would not normally be able to do if they were driving the car manually. For this reason, self-driving cars can help maximize productivity of their passengers.
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.
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...
Driverless vehicles, otherwise known as autonomous, automated or driverless cars, are no longer science fiction. The technology is here, and several companies are already testing them on the roads. A Total of forty-four corporations are working on autonomous vehicles, ranging from automotive industry stalwarts to leading technology brands and telecommunications companies. In this venture, Tesla Motors and Alphabet seem to be leading the way in the automotive industry with their recent releases of partially-autonomous vehicles. Despite early setbacks including the accidental death of Josh Brown, a forty year old Hollywood star, who was using the autopilot system in the Tesla Model when he crashed the vehicle, or Uber briefly suspending its own program after a self-driving car crashed in Tempe, Arizona, and the public’s outcry on the reliability of driverless cars, private companies working in auto tech are attracting record
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
In July 12, The New York Times reported a news: “Inside the self-driving Tesla fatal accident”, which again caused enormous debates on whether self-driving cars should be legal or not.
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). The point is that when driverless cars hit the road the cost of low-speed collision and save consumers money will be reduced. In the article “ Google Driverless Cars Run Into Problem: Cars With Drivers” Slakever states that “One Google car, in a test in 2009, couldn’t get through a four-way stop because its sensors kept waiting for other (human) drivers to stop completely and let it go. The human drivers kept inching forward, looking for the advantage — paralyzing Google’s robot”(Bosker). Current drivers have never followed the rule of the road, which have made the road more prone to any accident. Drivers have found the upper hand on not following traffic laws that makes manufacturing driverless car more meticulous to decrease accidents and breaking traffic laws. The fact that driverless car sensors can detect the errors of other human driven car is extraordinary. Human driven cars are trying to stick to the status quo of the roads when in reality human driven cars are breaking valuable innovation that will make the roads safe for generations to
Even though many believe driverless cars are both difficult to implement and potentially dangerous, humans are the underlying cause of both traffic-related incidents and fatalities; autonomous vehicles will operate without the weaknesses of humanity, thus significantly increasing safety. Smillie points out, “Crashes killed nearly 33,000 people in the United States and 1.25 million worldwide in 2013, and human error caused almost all of them. Cars that move by algorithm can communicate directly with one another and don’t fall asleep, get distracted by text messages or drink too much.” The fact that humans are being slaughtered annually within transportation is truly barbarous, especially when the technology needed to prevent such atrocities already exists; these technologies must be rapidly integrated into society.
With self-driving cars on the horizon for the average consumer, an ethical dilemma is made apparent. Who is to blame in the advent of an accident involving a car that drives itself? There are many situations in which the car could make a “wrong” judgement call based off of its internal decision models. The problem occurs when the decision the car makes differs from what the average person would consider a good moral choice. A current issue relates to who is responsible for an assisted driving accident, when the car attempts to save the driver or a pedestrian, and the other issue involves self-driving cars and the responsibility of computer model decisions.
You think its no big deal. You’re out celebrating having a couple of drinks and then just driving home right? Its nothing like that at all. There are many negative effects that can take place when you are out drinking and just having fun with your family or friends. At the moment you don’t think of the WHAT or IF. What can happen if I drive home drunk? What if something happens down the road? Those thoughts don’t come to mind when you’re having fun because why should they? How can a negative thought come to mind when whats in front of you, the feeling you’re having is only positive. We all been there I understand, we all have gone out for a few drinks and drive back home like if nothing bad can happen. Since we have gotten away with it before,
With the rise of self-driving cars, people’s skepticism towards the rise of artificial intelligence is at an all-time high. While engineers are trained to design systems that produce results with a certain precision, the self-driving car relies on a fairly new technology, which most people do not fully understand, and needs a reliability of over 99.99% accuracy. While a large majority of people do not currently trust self-driving cars, there is a potential, in the future, that human will eventually be more accident-prone than their computer counterparts. Finally, the rise of self-driving cars ushers in a new era of cyber-security, to directly protect people from a cyber-attack of their car, that could threaten the lives of potentially hundreds of people. The rise of self-driving cars has presented several challenges, including technological limitations, people’s trust of the system, and protection against cyber-attacks.
Discussion 2, Presentation I would like to address a major issue across America involving the driving conditions we must face getting to and from anywhere. First and foremost, the DMV reiterates daily that driving is a privilege not a right. Second and most importantly, there is no requirement that needs to be met except a passing test one day of the year to acquire a license to anywhere in America. Police aren’t even holding drivers responsible maybe because of backlash from all the media but that’s a whole other presentation. America is overrun with unprofessional, over populated, and unorganized heavy traffic.
“It only takes a second to look at your phone to reply to someone that your life is flashed before your eyes.” At any time during the day over 660,000 drivers in the United States use cell phones. In 2000, barely any kids or teens had phones; but now 6 out of 10 U.S parents of children ages 6-12 years old have a cell phone over more than half of teens that can drive has a phone. Cell phones do 3 things to you “visual”- taking your eyes off the road, “manual”- taking hands off of the wheel, and “cognitive”- taking mind off of driving. Are cell phones dangerous while driving?
Shankland, Stephen. "How Google's robo-cars mean the end of driving as we know it." Cnet. Cnet, 03 Sep 2013. Web. 20 Dec 2013. .