Driverless Cars

The concept of self driving cars has been an interesting and controversial (for some) topic as of recently. This is a major revolutionary shift in our day to day transportation. It would remove many jobs of people like truckers, while eventually making the roads safer and vastly limiting the amount of automobile accidents (due to human error) per year. It could also increase fuel efficiency. As we create and expand upon new innovations, day to day life will be changed drastically through self-driving cars.

The way self-driving cars are able to “see” is through their LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor. This sensor flashes an invisible light that creates a 3D map for the computer system in the car to make it aware of its surroundings. This map helps the car see things like obstacles, pedestrians or just unpredictable circumstances and choose the best possible decision for the safety of the passenger(s). The computer system is fed data through this system and is constantly learning so that it can make these decisions regardless of the situation it is in. With the combination of the computer and its sensors, you can do things like lane switching and react to potential hazards without human interaction needed.

Having self-driving vehicles would revolutionize the transportation industry in more ways than just one. An example of this would be for companies like Uber and Lyft. This would remove the jobs of the drivers and create more of a cash flow for the people who own these companies. They would now only need to buy the vehicles and then they could go to work on their own with only maintenance costs. This could also mean that there may be a lot less privately owned cars by regular civilians in the near future. I personally believe this will start predominantly in the city and then slowly trickle outwards towards places like Sabattus and Wales. The expansion of self-driving vehicles won’t only remove the jobs of Uber and Lyft drivers, but people with full time jobs like truck drivers as well. This innovation will kill a massive amount of jobs and create a sense of the automated life run by robots that we can only imagine in sci-fi movies.

All of this may sound great, but there are always drawbacks. With the advancements of having a computer control your car, this allows the opportunity to have someone hack into your vehicle. Malicious people could potentially take control of your vehicle and use it for bad things (like getting you into an accident) and possibly even get you killed. This even opens up the door for terrorist attacks on heavily populated areas that have sidewalks or just a terrorist hacking into a car and driving it into a targeted building. Before any sort of self-driving vehicle is adopted by any company or individual, these cybersecurity concerns should be the top priority to ensure the safety of the passengers.

As time goes on, more and more things become automated or more efficient. I think there is a point where too much automation is a bad thing. I think this because automation removes jobs from people and people will be thrown into poverty. It will create an even larger gap in wealth between the middle/lower class and the rich. The rich won’t have to pay people for the work anymore and people won’t have the opportunity to make money like they could before which would cause the masses to own little to nothing while the rich own everything. For this reason and a few others, I would not choose to make the switch to an electric or self-driving vehicle. I personally like gas powered cars and do not feel safe in a car that has the ability to be hacked and driven off of the road. 

“Tesla Motors Model S-1” by jurvetson is licensed under CC BY 2.0.