Driver-less cars

Driver-less cars are a huge experiment for the future. One of the biggest questions or concerns is if they are safe or not. Manufacturers are spending a lot of time trying to install features in the car that will make the ride not only safe for the passengers, but also stress free. To allow the car to be able to operate on its own, “it is the combination of different sensors with advanced computer vision systems that make it work,” (Gibbs) there are many additions that have to be working correctly and together for the car to perform accurately. Many of the vehicles also have what is called Lidar. It is a rotating sensor that is mounted to the roof of the car to continually scan the environment around the car. This allows for the car to be able to detect the distance of objects like other vehicles, people, buildings etc. The sensor is creating a 3-D picture of the environment around the car also for the use of GPS. The most difficult part of the self driving feature is actually the software that collects and analyzes the data and drives the car. The biggest concern about self-driving cars is if they are able to recognize people or objects in their way and stop the car to avoid accidents. The unpredictable motions of the vehicle is also nerve-wracking, “It has to be capable of recognizing and differentiating between cars, bikes, people, animals and other objects as well as the road surface,” (Gibbs) the cars need to be able to predict unpredictable movements of its surrounding. Other features that make driver less cars work are radars which help track nearby objects, lane keeping mounted dash cameras that help the car locate the lines of the road to stay in the correct lane, and also built in GPS that allows the car to map out where it is headed so it can go to the right location.

Self driving cars are going to take a long time to perfect just like any other piece of machinery. Although driverless cars are most likely much more complicated than a basic car to build and program, they have many limitations that are still trying to be worked out. One of the biggest limitations is the problem that the car can’t react to emergency situations like a human could, “an autonomous car will have to calculate and choose the appropriate response to each scenario, including possibly a choice between killing its occupants or other people.” (Gibbs) Which also brings up the question on who would be responsible for the accident? Would it be the car’s fault as a failure to stop to an oncoming pedestrian or oncoming vehicle, or the vehicle’s owners fault? Another issue that could arise as driverless cars become more used and are proven to be more safe could be that humans no longer need to drive and that everyone should just use driverless cars as a way of keeping things more safe and stable. But before the impacts the cars will have on the future, a current limitation of driverless cars is weather. Bad weather can create issues with the sensors and visibility problems for not only the car but the human inside the vehicle too. Since the Google cars are made up of lots of technology and computer systems, the car is at high risk for being able to be hacked and because of the sensitive radars the car has, it can be easily tricked into thinking there are objects there that can cause the car to stop, swerve or slow down.

The technology that the cars contain is technology that people in the world already rely on. Sensors, machine learning systems and powerful processors to execute the software system are all things that are currently being used for other types of machinery and devices. Humans rely on this type of technology already to create things to help our world become simpler.

I see driver less cars as a scary investment in the world. I would never want to rely on a computer to get me safely to and from a place that I needed to go. Although it is nice to sit back and relax in the car, trusting a computer system with my life would not be the ideal situation for me. Taking part in using a machine like this would not be something I would like to do or would have interest in. Personally I would rather rely on myself to make the right and safe decisions in traffic and on the road.

“File:Google driverless car at intersection.gk.jpg” by Grendelkhan is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.