Self-driving vehicles vs. Non-Self-Driving Vehicles

Self-driving vehicles vs. Non-Self-Driving Vehicles

Self-driving automobiles are becoming a reality as top auto and tech companies race to manufacture safe autonomous vehicles. Self-driving vehicle revolution will being many benefits, such as fewer accidents and reduced traffic flow. On the other, non-self-driving (regular) cars are monitored by human drivers siting behind the wheels. This raises a fundamental question: are driverless automobiles better than non-automated automobiles in terms of safety, traffic flow and convenience.

Many think self-driving vehicles will bring many benefits to society, including safety, improved traffic flow and freedom for the elderly. Driverless automobiles will improve road safety and save lives. The main aim of self-driving cars is to reduce human error by reacting effectively to delineated roads, potholes, obstacles and other physical hazards. Technology or computers involved in self-driving automobiles will greatly enhance road safety by minimizing human error.  Majority of vehicle accidents are caused by human error- driver fatigue, distracted driving, and inattention (Nees, 2019). Since driverless vehicles can react faster than regular cars driven by human, they hold the potential to improve road safety. Driverless cars do not get distract, drive drunk or get fatigue as human drivers do. Fully automated cars eliminate these errors thereby reducing the accidents. Less accidents would mean less deaths and injuries. This could in turn save lives through the ability of automated automobiles to reduce errors. Although driverless cars will reduce accidents, some accidents will occurs. These accidents may be far worse and tragic than accidents caused by human error.

However, it is difficult to prove that self-driving cars are safe. The performance of self-driving cars is often compared to human drivers. This criterion may be misleading. Moreover, acceptance level of self-driving cars by the public is yet to be determined. Trust is important and as long as people and public have trust issues with driverless cars, they may not have favorable reception.  According to Nielsen and Haustein (2018) people have apprehensions and skepticism about self-driving vehicle that are associated with safety. Survey conducted by American Automobile Association (2018) found majority (70%) of the driver respondents fear riding in self-driving cars.  This means the technology may fail until self-driving cars are considered smart enough as humans. Computers are not as intelligence as humans and self-driving cars are no exception.

Besides decreasing human error in driving, self-driving automobiles are capable of decreasing traffic flow. Struck in traffic causes inconvenience for most people.  Not only being struck behind procession of cars on the road lead to wastage of time and gas but can also result in road rage. Reducing the adverse effect of traffic flow could greatly enhance the way people travel (Nees, 2019). Driverless cars are being produced to solve this problem. Because they will run on a network of computers, self-driving vehicles will communicate with each other in real time. Driverless cars would enable seamless traffic flow and decrease commute times. This analysis is important in decreasing common traffic issues.

In addition, Self-driving automobiles will give freedom and more accessible to the elderly and those with disability. This special group of people currently lack freedom to get around because they rely on others to drive them. The elderly and physically challenged persons often face transportation-related challenges because they cannot drive. As a result, they end up missing appointments, interviews or travel to the destination of their choice. Inaccessible alternative transportation is also associated with loss of productivity. Self-driving cars hold the potential in solving some of these challenges, thereby improving productivity.  However, opponents argue that self-driving vehicles would lead to massive job losses and thus reduce productivity (Madrigal, 2018). A large number of people rely on the automotive for employment and livelihood. Many are employed in public transit, trucking, and delivery. Introduction of self-driving automobiles renders their jobs absolute. Proponents of automatic automobiles hold that self-driving vehicles would introduce new job opportunity to cancel out job losses.

There is no doubt driverless cars will benefit people in terms of convenience and safety. However, humans feel safer when they take control. People feel safe when they take control of the care and self-driving cars take away this control. Self-driving cars renders users passive passengers (Teoh & Kidd, 2017). Because the level of safety needed in self-driving cars is not clear, people are less likely to relinquish control to automated system (Kalra & Groves, 2017).

Self-driving will improve energy efficiency. Because they use electric rather than fuel energy, self-driving cars will be environmentally friendly.

While self-driving cars aim to minimum human error, they are themselves vulnerable to machine error. Self-driving cars do not totally eliminate accident risks wreaked by human driving error. Additionally, if the driverless car software fails, the resulting accident could be far worse.  Self-driving cars will get hacked. Because computers get hacked all the time, there is certainty that full automated cars will be hacked too.

Conclusion

This analysis shows that self-driving cars are the future but there are still concerns and barriers that must be over. The level of safety required in self-driving vehicle is not clear because its performance is often compared to human drivers. This technology is less likely to replace human driving cars because people are uncertain about the safety riding in self-driving cars. People also like to take control and relinquishing control to an automated system raises fear.

References

American Automobile Association. (2018). Vehicle Technology survey—Phase IIIB. https://newsroom.aaa.com/2018/05/aaa-american-trust-autonomous-vehicles-slips/

Kalra, N., & Groves, D. G. (2017). The Enemy of Good: Estimating the Cost of Waiting for Nearly Perfect Automated Vehicles. Rand Corporation.

Kaur, K., & Rampersad, G. (2018). Trust in driverless cars: Investigating key factors influencing the adoption of driverless cars. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 48, 87–96.

Madrigal, A. (2018). 7 Arguments against the Autonomous-Vehicle Utopia. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/12/7-arguments-against-the-autonomous-vehicle-utopia/578638/

Nees, M. (2019).Safer than the average human driver (who is less safe than me)? Examining a popular safety benchmark for self-driving cars. Journal of Safety Research 69(10). DOI:10.1016/j.jsr.2019.02.002

Nielsen, T. A. S., & Haustein, S. (2018). On skeptics and enthusiasts: What are the expectations towards self-driving cars? Transport Policy, 66, 49–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2018.03.004

Teoh, E. R., & Kidd, D. G. (2017). Rage against the machine? Google’s self-driving cars versus human drivers. Journal of Safety Research, 63, 57–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2017.08.008