When you were younger, have you ever imagined a future with robots or flying cars? Although we are not close to flying cars, it is evident that technology is becoming more advanced and will continue to grow as new car models are being produced every year. For a long time developers have envisioned advanced technology like flying cars in the future, while we are not there yet, we have taken a step closer and created an autonomous vehicle. With new technology and findings, autonomous vehicles have been set out to change universal transportation.
Without human drivers, computers will take the wheel by using their motion sensors and computer programs such as GPS to navigate their way on the roads. Autonomous vehicles may sound innovative, even revolutionary, but can also be detrimental. The main purpose of autonomous vehicles was to provide more safety and prevent less accidents. However after a few years of its launch, the production of these vehicles have put human lives at risk. Amongst the controversy, we should not continue with the advancement of autonomous vehicles because autonomous vehicles are not safer than human drivers, can be more harmful to the environment, and be more expensive.
Firstly, autonomous vehicles are not safer than human drivers because it is unreliable. Companies like Tesla, Uber, and Google have promoted autonomous vehicles for their features like the sensors and computer programs, which are used to collect data. However, due to recent reports and accidents, it is clear that the mechanisms are defective and can not ensure full safety of the passengers.
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For instance, in 2016, a car crash involving the Tesla Model S killed a young man when he was using the autopilot feature (Boudette). Since this accident, Tesla claimed that they were working to improve safety in their models, however, more accidents continued to take place in the following years. In a similar case, Uber’s self-driving car was involved in a fatal accident with a pedestrian, but unlike Tesla, they immediately stopped all use because they could not meet the expectations of pedestrian safety (Wakabayashi).
Additionally, according to Laris and Halsey, “Google’s self-driving cars appeared to crash more often than cars operated by humans.” In a recent research article by Favarò et. al., their statistics showed that “In the 62% remaining rear-end cases, the driver was not able to detect the upcoming collision in time, and neither was the AT, which remained engaged.” In rear-end type of accidents and collisions, they found that recurrent accidents caused by autonomous vehicles are similar to human drivers, both of them lack detection and reaction to accidents like collisions. This shows that autonomous cars still need improvement and should not be trusted on public roads.
Autonomous vehicles have similar accidents to human manned vehicles while having a higher crash rate, which will in turn cause more traffic. As well as being inefficient on the road and endangering our lives along with harming pedestrians. In an autonomous vehicle, it is important for drivers to be attentive while the car is operating, but if the driver is relying on the car to do serve its purpose, they will not be able to take control in time causing a safety hazard and may result in more traffic accidents.
Despite the numbers and data, people may still believe that autonomous vehicles will save more lives. Many drivers can forget or simply disobey traffic laws, putting other drivers in danger. There are many instances where reckless driving is a result of distraction. Seeing that autonomous cars can function without assistance and can have better reflexes than humans, this could decrease the likelihood of an accident. The sensors in an autonomous car are more keen than human senses; they are capable of gathering data about their environments and can act diligently when an environment can change (Thompson).
Since they have a computer system their ability to make decisions and responses are quicker, compared to humans where their natural reaction can be delayed due to fatigue, hunger and distractions. Additionally, with the production of autonomous vehicles, they are prone to suffer from some failures and should not be completely shut out. Developers like Xin Li, explain that they are working to minimize failure rates and are still learning about the different kinds of circumstances that can contribute to the systems failure (Allf). In an article by Mark Golden, people who supported driverless cars stated “The transition from horse-drawn carriages to cars was messy for a little while. When all cars are self-driving, we’ll all be much safer.”
However, it will take a lot more time to create any progress in order to provide full safety on the roads, but again, this includes more trial, error, and dangers; it is not that reassuring knowing that human lives are already at risk and can still be in the future. The transition to autonomous vehicles can take longer. In the same article, Golden polled the audience and found that very few of them would actually ride in an autonomous vehicle amongst regular drivers. It is obvious that there will be a difficult transition for people to fully rely on autonomous vehicles, especially when some can struggle with trusting strangers to drive them.
Secondly, autonomous vehicles can be more harmful to the environment. It is true that cars are one of the main contributors to climate change, but will eliminating them help in any way? Cars have been around for a very long time, since the late 1800s, and it has been harming the environment since then. In the article “Self-Driving Cars Could Help Save the Environment–or Ruin it. Depends on Us” Justin Worland states, Automated vehicles could reduce energy consumption in transportation by as much as 90%, or increase it by more than 200%, according to research from the Department of Energy (DOE).” This is important because it really depends on the consumers and policies that will be enforced.
Not only that, but the environment will also be affected by the number of miles driven; commuters are more likely to take more trips because they are not driving themselves (Worland). In another article, Myriam Alexander-Kearns suggests for congress to analyze the questions regarding autonomous cars and emissions. There is a lot of uncertainty to state that cars will benefit the environment when most cars being used today are not electric or autonomous. Although there is a possible 90% reduction, the reverse side of 200% increase is also very frightening and could be worse for our environment especially since there will be more people driving these autonomous cars and wanting to visit more places.
Some may argue that autonomous vehicles will benefit the environment; it is designed to be entirely electric by battery charged. Since these cars will not be using gas, it will reduce emissions and cut air pollution. Apparently, cars use the most gas when driving at high speeds and braking, but according to Worland, autonomous vehicles will “ … be able to reduce emissions as computer respond more smoothly to the need to accelerate and brake.”
In an article by Jim Lyons, it reported that “a full transition to electric vehicles could reduce these emissions by up to 85 percent.” However, there are no statistics to really prove that autonomous vehicles, alone, will impact climate change or the environment; there is also the question regarding the costs, how many autonomous cars will it take to see a change in the environment? We will never really know.
There are better ways to make cars more eco friendly, such as having hybrid cars or just fully electric cars, but advertising and producing autonomous vehicles should not be one of them. Although, electric cars are no better than cars that use gas. While less emissions will be produced, there will still be CO2 emitted by power plants, therefore still contributing to emissions. Electric cars will also create a bigger concern and hazard regarding battery disposal and the use of coal, natural gas, and nuclear power (Golden).
Lastly, autonomous cars are too expensive. Cars are already expensive enough, there are people who commute by taking the bus, BART, or biking because owning a car is already costly. As someone who owns a car, I do not think I can ever afford to own an autonomous car since the price tag of a new autonomous vehicle will be expensive in the beginning. According to Chuck Tannert, “The price for the self-driving technology will add between $7,000 and $10,000 to a car’s sticker price in 2025…” He explains that the technology used to make autonomous cars are too expensive too, therefore making it more expensive for most people to buy.
This will in turn make it harder for people to commute to work or afford a vehicle since all drivers on the road will have to have an autonomous vehicle. It is predicted that cost will only increase in the future because developers are using expensive equipment and technology; this makes it harder for developers to make prices lower. Since this is also a new concept being applied, not many people will have autonomous cars making them popular in demand, which will increase their price tag. Until these autonomous cars are being massed produced their price tag will not lower, making it harder for the middle and lower class to purchase, this will make it difficult for them to commute to work. Autonomous vehicles are not easily accessible and are not preferred for some drivers.
But what about ride sharing? In the future it is possible for people to carpool together with self-driving cars, therefore, saving money. Carpooling is already an option for most commuters and with smaller public transportations like a van, it can fit at least eight people. For instance, it is common for a family to own more than one car; having an autonomous car can eliminate the need for another car.
An autonomous car can return home and take the next family member to the next location. This would completely diminish the purpose of BART and other companies like Uber or Lyft; it would not be ethical for developers to consider having massive transportation like BART to be autonomous, there is a larger group of people at risk and it would be more difficult to test. There’s also other things to consider as well, such as repairs or damages that can appear in the computer system or sensors; it would
Having a system operate your car can raise lots of questions and concerns. I have learned that self-driving cars are not as safe as it may seem. There have been multiple fatalities and accident reports caused by it. There is also insufficient information regarding the environmental impacts, whether they are good or bad, nothing is certain. Looking at the reality of it all, it is too expensive, not everyone can afford one. Continuing with the advancement of autonomous vehicles are unethical, there are way too many dangers, risks, and it holds unrealistic expectations from consumers.
