Self-Driving Cars: An Attainable Future

One of the most well-known predictions of the future throughout the last hundred years or so has pertained to the concept of self-driving cars. It is hard to believe that this “future” is going to be the present very soon. Even though it seems like society is far away from this achievement, we are actually a lot closer to self-driving cars than you would think. A significant amount of the modern cars on the road today have certain features to assist the driver, like automatic braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane assist. Many of the top vehicle manufacturing brands including Volvo and BMW, have already begun working on self driving cars, as well as technology brands like Google. Naturally, there are a lot of advantages to this great achievement, but there are also many disadvantages. What once seemed like an unachievable accomplishment will very soon become the new normal.

As is the case with any new technology, there is going to be a lot of trial and error taking place in order to successfully work out the kinks. Throughout this trial and error phase of the development of self-driving cars, certain advantages and disadvantages have been discovered. Although self-driving cars are supposed to prevent car crashes, there have already been multiple crashes and at least one casualty reported. Of course it is too early to make the assumption that self-driving cars are deadly since they are still in the testing phase, but there are still far too many flaws. One of the more major flaws is that humans and self-driving cars are not always going to get along when sharing the road. Studies have shown that the majority of the accidents involving self-driving cars were not the self-driving car’s fault, but the human drivers driving alongside them. The unpredictableness and aggressiveness of human drivers is going to make it extremely difficult for self-driving cars and human drivers to coexist. Unfortunately, it seems like unless self-driving cars can adapt, there will have to be no human drivers on the road. Other flaws include unpredictable weather and hacking, but if the researchers are given the time they need, they can certainly find a way around this. If self-driving cars can find a way around its flaws, there will definitely be many advantages in store, such as benefiting the environment, allowing disabled people to drive, and overall safety.

For anyone who has driven a newer car, they have probably noticed some of the features that make it easier to drive due to the car’s assistance. Some of the features already included in most of the newer average cars include parking assist, automatic braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane assist. This shows how close we actually are to having a fully self drive car, but how is it all going to work? The technology is very complex, but it is using a lot of the same technology that is already implemented in modern cars today. “Many of the vehicles use what is called Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) — a rotating laser, usually mounted on the roof, that continually scans the environment around the car. Traditional radar is also used for detecting distances to objects and cars, as are various cameras, accelerometers, gyroscopes and GPS, which are all used in conjunction to build a 3D picture of the environment around the vehicle.” (Source 2). Many of today’s cars already use radars in order to be aware of its surroundings, so the technology is already pretty much there. The technology is definitely not too far away from where it needs to be, so it will not be long until you start seeing self-driving cars on the road.

I am definitely open to the idea of self-driving cars, but I do not think that I will be eager to purchase one immediately. Also, if I were to get a self-driving car in the future, I would like to at least have the option to manually drive the car if I wanted or needed to. Since it seems like the technology is here and somewhat safe, I can see myself “driving” a self-driving car in the future. After reading this, can you see yourself “driving” a self-driving car?

“Google Self-Driving Car” by smoothgroover22 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.Copy text