The Argument for Electrical, Self-Driving Vehicles First people traveled by foot, then by horse, then the first automobile was invented over a century ago, which included a variation of the combustion engine that the majority of people still use today. The next major evolution in transportation is fast approaching with the invention of electrical, self-driving vehicles.
In the last few years, Google has begun testing driver-less cars on the open road and recently Elon Musk of Tesla announced a software update for their current electrical vehicles that will allow autonomous driving. The time has come for this evolution and even major power houses in the automotive industry are developing self-driving technology. In the following years, we will need to have a conversation as a society about the benefits and negatives of self-driving, electrical vehicles and once we do, it will become glaringly obvious that the pros outweigh the cons.
The following benefits such as autonomous cars decreasing automotive fatalities from issues such as human error, intoxicated driving, distracted driving, and safer driving for the elderly and health disadvantaged, plus other advantages such as lowering carbon emissions from not using combustion engine based vehicles. Although, opponents of this technology may wonder if it would be possible for hackers to gain access to these vehicles or think of the possibility of a malfunction affecting the safety, I am confident driver-less cars will be common place in mainstream society in the next couple of decades.
One of the largest benefits of self-driving technology in automobiles would be the reduction of accident related fatalities. According to Erik Sherman from Fortune, “Human error is the cause of 94% of car crashes,” so it is no wonder why the adoption of self-driving technology could have an immense decline in car related accidents (Sherman). A human being can never be as efficient as a computer on completing important tasks, when programmed correctly. An example would be the disparity of when people attempt to complete mathematical equations without error versus a calculator or computer completing the same task.
The computer will never get an incorrect answer as long as the user inputs the numbers correctly. Not to mention one of our rapidly growing issues which would be distracted driving, which is causing an increase in car accidents. This is something that we probably have all been guilty of at one time or another and every day, common distractions from smart phone activities such as texting, controlling your music, and answering your phone contribute to this increase in accidents.
While we can keep creating laws to curb this behavior, there is something about outlawing human nature that does not seem to be a solution to the problem, but more of an additional tax. A true solution to this problem would be an advancement in technology, like the one being described in this essay, which is the introduction of self-driving automobiles to the mainstream population. If my logic is correct, instead of attempting to curb human behaviors, autodriving cars could reduce these accidents while allowing people to take care of other things that need to be done throughout the day.
Another one of the most common causes of deadly accidents is the problem of people driving under the influence of alcohol and other mind altering substances and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “every day, 28 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 53 minutes” (Impaired… ) That startling statistic is further evidence that human behavior is incredibly hard to change, even when faced with dangerous circumstances and the threat of prosecution.
A much more creative and effective solution to this problematic issue is for states to allow self-driving vehicles to drive on public roads. Not only could this solution save lives, it would allow people to enjoy their evening out without worry of getting into an accident or arrested for driving under the influence. An additional reason people could gain from owning an autonomous vehicle would be the ability for elderly and physically or mentally ill to become more self-reliant.
To be truthful, one of my fears of driving is the fact that I have had a couple seizures in my lifetime and in the back of mind, I worry that this could happen on the road. Now, this is just one of many ailments that could prevent people from driving safely. Other situations would include elderly people who no longer have the cognitive ability or eye sight to drive safely and according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, more than 5,560 elderly adults were killed and over 214,000 were injured in accidents just in 2012 (Older… . Another issue that arises are accidents by folks that need to consume mild altering prescription medications for various illnesses. This technology could even save lives by driving people to the emergency room when no one else is available to drive for them. As if lower fatalities and safety was not enough of a reason to pass laws to allow self-driving, electrical cars, one of the biggest contributors to climate change are carbon emissions from vehicles.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “In 2014, greenhouse gas emissions from transportation accounted for about 26% of total U. S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second largest contributor” (Sources… ). The mass adaption of electrical, selfdriving vehicles not only would cut down on climate change, but would also alleviate any health risks posed by the massive amount of car exhaust in urban areas.
Plus, in an effort to fight climate change, many states offer rebates and or income tax credits for consumers who purchase electrical vehicles, an example would be Colorado’s $6,000 income tax credit. Another possible benefit would come in the form of using tax dollars more efficiently. For example, police officers would no longer be burdened by issuing tickets for various traffic violations like speeding or red light tickets and would no longer have to deal ith as many accidents and would allow those officers to focus on other, more serious crimes.
Additionally, red light cameras would no longer be needed at various busy intersections. Now the opponents of autonomous electrical vehicles bring up various issues and concerns. One of the concerns is that these vehicles could get hacked or accessed by malicious individuals, but we’ve already come to the point where many modern cars have computers implemented in them that is possible to be hacked.
The next argument would be the gasoline industry is likely to be hurt tremendously if these vehicles were to become common, but I would counter that by saying this would make the United States as a country more energy independent from countries that don’t necessarily align with our democratic values as a country. It would also open up jobs in a different sector in the energy industry. Another argument is that only the wealthy would be able to afford these vehicles, but of course, like any emerging technology, it will start off as expensive, but will become cheaper over time.
Lastly, an alternative argument is that over time, people would lose the ability or knowledge on how to drive and in the event of a huge network glitch or another type, they would no longer know how to drive and would be helpless without these autonomous vehicles. The problem with this argument is that it applies to pretty much any other major technological innovation, a comparison would be the invention of industrial farming and how most people no longer have the knowledge or know how to farm or hunt for their own food.
Taking these arguments into account, the argument for self-driving, electrical vehicles still drastically outweigh the cons. The possibility of a dramatic decrease in traffic fatalities alone is worth the risk, but when adding arguments like easier access to transportation for the disabled and the ill, the elimination of alcohol and drug related accidents, and lower carbon emissions for combustion engine based vehicles, it’s no wonder why I believe it’s a no brainer when considering the use of autonomous electrical automobiles and I’m confident these will be adopted by the majority of the population in the future.