After the hard work put into a driver’s education, most people start out with a heightened awareness and desire for safety behind the wheel. But over time, it’s easy to be sucked into false confidence about how much attention is really needed to get by with driving. Speeding, drunk driving, distraction, and a disregard for road laws are all common problems that put everyone on the road in danger. According to the Centers for Disease Control, fatalities from traffic incidents in the United States happen on an annual basis of over 33,000 people. Many of these accidents are preventable, 81% a result of distracted driving.
With traffic accidents plaguing the country in recent years, a greater initiative has been made to make roads safer. Perhaps the most intriguing debate in this field involves self-driving cars, a form of transportation that would operate using solely computer algorithms. It seems straight from science fiction, but these innovative cars aren’t that far from reality. As of the close of 2017, twenty-one states have passed legislation that authorizes autonomous vehicles, while the governors of six more have issued executive orders to make this possible. Although self-driving cars are not dominating just yet, Uber is picking up passengers with them in Pittsburg, while Volvo, Ford, and other are making striking advances.
What exactly is so promising about this technology? Essentially ideal motorists, computers will eliminate the human error that is responsible for 81% of car crashes. According to a study by the Eno Centre for Transportation, if just 90% of cars on American roads were autonomous, the number of accidents would fall from 6 million a year to 1.3 million. Deaths would fall from 33,000 to 11,300. There's huge, huge potential in making traffic safer than it is today, says Erik Coelingh, Volvo’s Senior Technical Leader for Safety and Driver Support Technologies. That is one of the big reasons for us that we entered this field.
Self-driving cars also offer benefits besides road safety, by increasing efficiency in numerous ways. Decreased traffic congestion is a likely outcome of autonomous decisions, and it’s expected that self-driving taxis will decrease the
overall number of cars on the road. Sebation Thrun, a computer scientist at Stanford University and a former member of the Google self-driving car team, believes that it is possible only 30% of the cars currently on the road will be needed once robot taxis become mainstream. With precision in acceleration and breaking also comes a reduction of carbon emissions.Self-driving cars could reduce CO2 emissions produced by cars by as much as 300 million tons per year.
With the cars themselves doing most or all the driving, passengers will be free to make the most of their time spent in the vehicle. Additionally, with decreased traffic congestion, it will take less time to go from A to B, providing more time to engage in activities other than the transitional commuting. ͞You as a driver, you can get back your own time,͟ Coelingh said. ͞And you can use it in a better way than just staring at the car in front of you.͟ According to estimations, commuters worldwide could save a combined 1 billion hours every day with self-driving cars on the road.
When productivity gains are combined with other savings that self-driving cars bring, like fuel efficiency and savings from accident avoidance, the total potential annual savings to the United States economy soars to $1.3 trillion. Morgan Stanley, a leading global financial services firm, estimates that number could reach $5.6 trillion worldwide. These numbers make one think—how bad can self-driving cars be?
Not so bad. Autonomous vehicles have immense potential to not only make roads safer, but increase traffic efficiency, save the environment, and boost worldwide productivity. This seemingly impossible reality is slowly gaining speed, with most automakers having pledged to have at least their semi-autonomous systems available by 2020. The public opinion is mixed—many are eager to experience this technology, while others are hesitant to embrace it. Although some are doubtful, self-driving cars should help make the world a better place.
overall number of cars on the road. Sebation Thrun, a computer scientist at Stanford University and a former member of the Google self-driving car team, believes that it is possible only 30% of the cars currently on the road will be needed once robot taxis become mainstream. With precision in acceleration and breaking also comes a reduction of carbon emissions. Self-driving cars could reduce CO2 emissions produced by cars by as much as 300 million tons per year.
With the cars themselves doing most or all the driving, passengers will be free to make the most of their time spent in the vehicle. Additionally, with decreased traffic congestion, it will take less time to go from A to B, providing more time to engage in activities other than the transitional commuting. You as a driver, you can get back your own time, Coelingh said. And you can use it in a better way than just staring at the car in front of you. According to estimations, commuters worldwide could save a combined 1 billion hours every day with
self-driving cars on the road.
When productivity gains are combined with other savings that self-driving cars bring, like fuel efficiency and savings from accident avoidance, the total potential annual savings to the United States economy soars to $1.3 trillion. Morgan Stanley, a leading global financial services firm, estimates that number could reach $5.6 trillion worldwide. These numbers make one think—how bad can self-driving cars be?
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