As my family and I were driving on the freeway, we saw the aftermath of a disturbing accident which will be ingrained in my memory for a long time. We wondered about the driver and passengers' safety. In 2019, 38,000 people lost their lives to car crashes. Most of these car accidents are caused by human error, self-driving cars would outperform drunk drivers, distracted people, or texting teens that are behind the wheel. Today, many cars now have the feature of autopilot where the car is enabled to drive on its own, while a person is behind the wheel, through sensors and video cameras which maintain a map of their surroundings. These sensors direct whether to break, slow down, or even park. The ability of autopilot will decrease the amount of car accidents because of its complete attentiveness to the road which humans may occasionally struggle with. There are not that many reports of a self-driving car causing harm to its driver and/or civilians showing that there is minimal risk in allowing a car to drive itself.
However, cars with this feature are expensive. According to Allstate,"Fully autonomous tech could add at leas $100,000 to the price of a vehicle, while even semi-autonomous features like Tesla's autopilot and Cadillac's Super Cruise add $5,000 and $10,000, respectively, to the base vehicle cost." There have also been questions of safety and security. Since these cars have computers built in, it has the potential to be hacked which would allow hackers to have complete access to the car as well as tracking the car's location. Alongside that, some people do not trust a computer with driving simply because they are afraid of technology itself and prefer driving on their own. Also, it is possible for health problems to occur by the exposure of radiation which self-driving cars include with its many technological features. Do you like the feature of autopilot on a car? How often would you use it?
Self-driving cars aren’t perfect, and there are risks associated with using them as they are still in early development. Computers can monitor every direction without getting distracted or fatigued, and have faster reaction times than people, but lack the advanced sensory perception and decision-making skills humans have for now. Currently, cars with auto-pilot are meant to help humans be better at driving, in the same way auto-pilot helps pilots fly better, not necessarily obtain complete control. According to the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 90% of car accidents in the United States are due to lapses in human cognizance. Autonomous vehicles can greatly reduce the number of accidents, potential fatalities, and fuel emissions as they prioritize finding the quickest and most efficient route to a destination, using less fuel than a human would.
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