Self-driving cars are coming, are you ready? People love the idea of driverless cars, but do you really spend some time thinking about the pros and cons? Are self-driving cars really good? There’s a lot of information to dig into, so we won’t waste your time. What are the pros and cons of self-driving cars? In this article, you’ll learn more about self-driving cars, how they work, and the pros and cons of driverless cars.
What is a self-driving car?
It may be shocking, but self-driving cars drive themselves. All jokes aside, self-driving cars are the latest wave of technology on the road.
A self-driving car is what Tesla calls a car with an “autopilot.” Theoretically, the two terms mean the same thing, but self-driving cars are out of Tesla’s shadow.
You might recognize the idea of self-driving cars from many different sci-fi or futuristic movies. For all intents and purposes, the car drives itself without any intervention from the driver. You can take a nap or watch a movie, and the car will do all the work for you.
Truly self-driving cars are equipped with advanced algorithms and a large number of sensors. It needs to perform all the duties that humans would otherwise perform, so you can only imagine how complex the idea is.
Essentially, these types of cars need to accelerate, brake, and steer to their destination without any injuries to anyone. The last part of this sentence is very different here. That’s why you can’t put a cinder block on the gas pedal and call your Civic a self-driving car.
How does autopilot work?
The nuances of autopilot would take hundreds of pages to really explain. If you need a brief overview, take a look here:
Autopilot uses cameras, sensors, and computers to make decisions that drivers would normally make. The camera scans the road and environment around the car, acting as your eyes.
Sensors work in tandem with cameras to detect more subtle changes or immediate danger.
The computer acts as the brain of the operation. It makes decisions and tells the rest of the car what to do.
Your accelerator and brake pedals, as well as your steering wheel, will also be automatically controlled by the computer.
From your point of view, it feels like you’re a passenger of a vehicle. The key difference is that you’re in the driver’s seat.
You will start your trip by turning on the car and inserting the destination. The rest depends on the car.
What cars have autonomous driving?
Surprisingly, there is only one car brand that offers true autopilot, and that is Tesla. You can find it in any of their S, 3, X, or Y cars.
If you’re looking for a car inspired by autonomous driving, the competitive environment gets even bigger. Many cars have adaptive cruise control, lane monitoring, steering control, and a plethora of sensors.
Some of the car brands that can drive themselves are:
Acura, Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Ford, Genesis, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polaris, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
We hope to see this list grow and see more cars offer true self-driving capabilities.
The future of autonomous vehicles
Are self-driving cars really good? Big tech companies like Google have thrown their hats into the circle of self-driving cars. Your ears should cheer up when you hear the news. Why? This is because they see the future of these cars.
If your roads are full of self-driving cars, then you can expect almost zero crashes. Unlike human drivers, these cars will be able to communicate with each other. After all, a flash can only say so much.
By having a fleet of self-driving cars, transportation will be a thing of the past, commutes will be faster, and there will be fewer accidents on the road. This is a utopia that people are beginning to understand after seeing Tesla’s attempts at self-driving.
As we discuss the pros and cons of self-driving cars, let’s dive into some of these ideas.
Advantages of self-driving cars
What are the pros and cons of self-driving cars? Let’s take a look at the benefits of self-driving cars. These topics are widely discussed by experts in different industries, as well as uncles who are drunk on Thanksgiving.
Fewer car accidents
This is the first item on the list. The biggest benefit of driverless cars is fewer car accidents. Time and time again, people are told about the dangers of distracted driving, reckless driving, drunk driving, and bad driving.
What happens when you remove the human factor from driving? Suddenly, all these dangers are gone. The result is fewer car accidents.
In addition to human error, humans are slower to perceive and respond to threats. Computers can be a million times faster than us. This means that self-driving cars can assess situations and determine the best outcome faster than any of us.
Environmental protection
Although this is not mutually exclusive, it is believed that self-driving cars will be fully electrified. Take Tesla, for example.
Having a grid with electric driverless cars will dramatically reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use and the amount of greenhouse gases we emit.
Faster commute
With a network of autonomous vehicles, transportation will be simplified. A lot of times, traffic is caused by someone making a mistake or doing something stupid while driving.
With a swarm of robots controlling the cars on our road, our commute will be much faster. If the roads are full of driverless cars, then the speed limit is likely to be much higher.
General cost savings
The hidden cost of humans driving cars on the road is all the medical care needed. It is constantly raised, but humans driving cars can cause accidents. Sadly, the accident led to a visit.
As accidents decrease, so do the hospital’s funding and resources.
No need to focus
It may seem simple, but the ideal self-driving car doesn’t require your concentration at all. This means that you can play games, watch movies, eat, nap on your phone…… Abound.
There’s no need to pay attention to the road conditions, and you can do other activities while driving to your destination.
Added options for people with disabilities
A lot of us know people who can’t drive because of a physical disability. It can be physical, mental, age-related, or due to injury. In any case, it seems too unfair that these people can’t move around on their own.
Driverless cars could be the solution to this problem. Even if someone is injured, they can still use self-driving cars to move around.
Compared to these people who rely on others when traveling, the achievement is a new sense of independence.
Accessible transportation
Are self-driving cars really good? Another idea for self-driving cars is that restrictions can be reduced. Do people really need to be at least 17 or 18 years old to drive themselves? If all driving is done by a car, can young people move around in the driver’s seat?
What about those who are too drunk to safely drive a vehicle on their own? Does it make sense for them to get home safely in a self-driving car?
When you start thinking about these different questions, you’ll get a simple answer: self-driving cars are a convenient way to get around.
Self-driving Uber?
One idea that we’re really interested in is a driverless Uber. Maybe it’s far-fetched, but it seems reasonable to imagine a world where no one owns a car and we all use a driverless Uber.
The idea is that self-driving cars can pick you up and take you to your destination without anyone driving you. The result is a cheaper, more convenient, and more efficient ridesharing experience.
Potential for further commuting
The only annoying thing about being away from work is driving every morning. You’d rather spend your time sleeping, eating, watching the news, or doing other things.
If your car drives for you, now your commute doesn’t matter anymore. You can do what you love while your car takes care of all the driving.
This opens the door to potential further commuting. If you can play video games all the time, is the idea of a 2-hour one-way commute so bad? This could reshape the way we build cities – instead of clustering all the apartments near our workplaces, we can start to spread out more.
On top of that, we talked earlier about how cars can go faster on the road. If the speed limit is doubled, then you can live twice as far to work and the same commute!
Disadvantages of self-driving cars
What are the pros and cons of self-driving cars? Of course, there are some drawbacks to self-driving cars. It’s worth pointing out these so that you can get a full picture. Let’s take a look at them.
The possibility of being hacked
From time to time, you will hear about major hacking attacks in the news. Hackers break into different large companies and steal a lot of personal information.
Driverless cars are also vulnerable to hacking, but the results are far more deadly. Theoretically, someone could hack into your car and change the driving software. They can change your destination, steer your car to a tree, or simply turn off your car.
As scary as the idea is, it just means that manufacturers need to focus on cybersecurity.
There’s a big learning curve
Every segment of the autonomous driving industry has a learning curve associated with it. Something like this has never been done before, so it takes a lot of education.
People will have to learn how to drive and maintain their cars. And how to pick the right car, what to do if something goes wrong, and what to avoid. Manufacturers and salespeople also have a lot of learning to do.
Overall, people need to be prepared to go through a learning curve.
Unemployment
Professional drivers will lose their jobs. Highway truck drivers, delivery people, taxi drivers, and bus drivers will end up at the unemployment office.
At the same time, new jobs will be created in the automotive, software, cybersecurity, and infrastructure sectors. Who knows if there will be a loss or more work?
Upfront costs
Unfortunately, this level of luxury doesn’t come cheap. When you see the closest thing to a self-driving car, Tesla, you’ll notice that.
Adding their self-driving features to their cars will cost around $10,000 in addition to the list price. That’s just for the car.
Future programming, software, updates, and cybersecurity efforts will continue to increase costs – especially as more cars abandon drivers.
Experts predict that the price of self-driving cars will eventually fall, and we just have to be patient.
How do cars make tough decisions?
Most people have something that cars don’t have – morality. How does a car make a difficult decision that can mean the difference between life and death? It’s a very interesting concept that people don’t usually talk about when they talk about the utopia of driverless cars.
If a pedestrian jaywalks in the middle of the road, should your car decide to hit the person, turn to the other lane and crash into that car, or drive you into an adjacent utility pole to dodge two obstacles? Who can make such a decision?
Since the car is running algorithms and programs, these answers need to be communicated to the car. Should the car value the driver’s life over the life of others? That’s a tricky question.
Are self-driving cars really good? Failures can be fatal
Have you ever had a computer glitch while checking your email? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? A quick reboot usually solves the problem, and then you don’t have to worry about it.
So what happens when this breakdown happens to a car that is crossing the highway at 150 mph? It’s an ugly scenario that can happen.
A lot of pressure needs to be put on developers and car manufacturers to ensure that all errors are addressed. Pushing out a car before troubleshooting can lead to fatal accidents. This is similar to a driver passing out while driving.
Who’s making the rules?
When we talk more about regulations and rules regarding self-driving cars, a simple question comes to mind: Who is making the rules?
If you leave it to the government, they may implement some strange regulations that don’t make sense and will only cause inconvenience to everyone.
If the manufacturer calls the shots, they will do everything possible to make their lives easier and bring them more profits.
If ordinary people are making rules…… Well, that should freak the hell out of you.
The rules in question will revolve around speed limits, who can own and operate self-driving cars, their emergency response protocols, whether they should report different data, and more. The list is incomplete because we don’t even know what will happen when self-driving cars are introduced.
Data loss capability
Where there is data, there is data loss. Driverless cars need to store a lot of data in their computers. Like where you live, where you work, what you do, when you’re not at home, who you can be with while you’re driving.
This list of personal information is located in your self-driving car’s computer. Stakeholders can hack in and steal your data without the car manufacturer providing appropriate security measures.
Conclusion
What are the pros and cons of self-driving cars? At this point, you may be filled with hope and fear. The possibility of self-driving cars is very real, and it sounds sooner than we expected. This list of pros and cons of self-driving cars should give you enough insight into what you’ll encounter when you’re in the driver’s seat without pedals or steering wheel.
