The Importance Of Driverless Vehicles

Driverless vehicles are gaining more and more popularity as their development continues. But, are its backers too obsessed with the novelty of a self-driving car to care about the problems that come with it? Is the allure of a driverless vehicle to strong to acknowledge the safety concerns? The government should not support driverless cars. Although it will make commuting easier for the millions of Americans who live and work in different cities, costs—both physical and mental—are too high and the technology is very unsafe. Most decent vehicles cost around $25,000. When you add the cost of the technology needed to make a car driverless, that price skyrockets. “One report says making a car completely self-driving would add some $10,000 to

Although driverless cars have been in testing for a while, reports show barely any improvements from one version of the program needed to another. “Driverless cars rely primarily on pre-programmed information about routes. If something on the road changes, they are lost” (Flora 3). Say a temporary roadblock or even just a few yards of deep potholes appear on the road. Most drivers would avoid the roadblock or change lanes in the case of potholes, correct? Since the self-driving car uses pre-programmed information, it’d either not follow the roadblock or drive directly over the potholes (in the case that they appear). “The vehicles simply cannot deal with the unexpected adventures that fill everyday life” (Flora 3). It’s not very likely that one would trust a program that can’t even avoid roadblocks or potholes to safely transport their family from point A to B. The government should not support a vehicle that risks the safety of it’s drivers.

Although states are already gearing up for the use of driverless cars, laws regarding just the use of self-driving cars would take “years and many lawyers to sort out” (Flora 4), not to mention thousands of dollars. Legal responsibilities would also be a struggle to settle. For example, lawyers would need to sort out “who should be held responsible in the event of a crash — the passenger, the carmaker or the designer