With the roadways becoming more crowded every day, there are many concerns that come into play. Whether it’s the daily commute, family vacations or road trips, or a quick drive up to the store, getting from point A to point B in our Western world means having many vehicles on the roads at all times. People want to reach their destination quickly and with as little hassle as possible. It’s important to consider the prevalence of issues like safety and efficiency on the roads. So, with more people on the roads in general, what can be done to help keep us safer as well as save us time and effort?
The introduction of automated cars means the future is quickly arriving. As we strive to save time and remain safe on the roadways, what are automated cars doing to contribute, and what can be changed to improve their design in an effort to meet these needs?
In the densely populated Texas Triangle – an area formed by Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston – the death toll between 2005 and 2014 averages around 3,363 deaths each year. In many cases, driver error is a leading cause, such as driving while under the influence of alcohol, failing to drive in a single lane or failing to control their speed. These are all preventable human errors that bring about the question of whether or not the roads would be safer if human error wasn’t an issue.
While it may feel strange to consider a robot driving a vehicle, computers use complicated algorithms that take into account a great deal of data when determining their next move such as appropriate stopping distance and distance from another vehicle. If self-driving vehicles are safer overall than human-driven cars, there will be less injuries and lives lost, which also mea less money spent on medical bills and with insurance companies.
Saving lives and money are both huge benefits of automated cars. Additionally, it’s important to consider the amount of time that can be saved with owning a self-driven vehicle. Consider how much time you spend commuting daily. What if you could get work done, read or use the time to catch up with friends or family?
It would, however, require enough self-driving cars on the road to learn information from each other regarding road conditions and traffic early on. This would be key in providing an efficient and safe journey. This does mean that there would be more opportunity for hackers to work their way into these systems. There is also a fear that with all of the data these computers will need, they may begin collecting and storing personal information as well.
While there are many positives to self-driving vehicles, in order for those positive effects to take place, roads would need to be filled with automated vehicles. The cost of implementing self-driving vehicles fully would be great. With human-driven vehicles still on the roads, accidents can and will happen. The more self-driving cars we have, the more smoothly things can run.