Potential of Self-Driving Cars | Teen Ink

Potential of Self-Driving Cars

April 26, 2016
By GREED5 BRONZE, Wyckoff, New Jersey
GREED5 BRONZE, Wyckoff, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Imagine entering the car in the morning, all tired and drowsy. You are drinking your coffee while your eyes are half closed. But, instead of driving you can sit back and let the car  drive you to your destination. Due to extraordinary technology, self-driving cars have the potential to be better drivers than humans. However, some believe that self-driving cars shouldn’t be used. Autonomous cars should become a part of society because it allows one’s life to be more convenient, it helps the environment, and it makes driving much safer.


To begin, self-driving cars will increase the convenience of driving.  With robotic cars commutes would become quicker and less stressful because, “For many Americans, commuting is the most miserable task they do every day. Long commutes increase the risk of obesity, divorce, stress, sleeplessness, and neck pain.” (Plumer). Driverless commuting by car would make car rides feel shorter as it would allow for time to do other activities. On top of that, the time that it takes to arrive at work would be minimized, because cars driven by robots would travel at steadier speeds and avoid traffic jams (Plumer). Plenty of  people are not allowed to drive right now including, “...Everyone under 16. The elderly. The disabled. People who are intoxicated or on medication. People who are sleeping.” (Plumer). Everyone would now be able to drive around in driverless cars. Clearly, by switching to robotic cars, everyone's lives would be easier.

 

Furthermore, autonomous cars are extremely eco-friendly which will help society. According to Ucilia Wang an expert on renewable energy, and electric cars, cars use about 2 billion barrels of oil each year (Wang). self-driving cars are electric and therefore beneficial for the environment. Also, Larry Burns, a consultant for Google, said humans can save a lot of fuel which helps the environment, because one can keep trucks driving on the road at all times, and the person in the vehicle can change the car's route if they see it’s going to run into traffic (Robson). Google has many specializations, including robotic cars. Gas negatively impacts the environment, and if these cars do not use fuel it will make the environment healthier. To conclude, new research published, “ in Nature Climate Change finds that, by 2030, self-driving taxis could produce up to 94 percent less greenhouse gas emissions per mile than the conventional vehicles jamming the roads today.” (Wheeling). In the future taxis can significantly decrease the amount of greenhouse gasses. All in all, by changing to autonomous cars there would be a positive impact on the environment.
Thus, driverless vehicles would make driving safer for both drivers and pedestrians. This is because a computer would control cars most of the time. According to Dennis Jaconi humans make many poor choices before they even enter in a car. A government study on robotic cars will abolish any human driver shortcoming like driving under the influence, speeding, or inexperience (Jaconi). “Dennis P. Jaconi heads Teletrac's content marketing and editorial team. He loves to learn how companies are leveraging GPS software for improved business efficiency and a reduction of carbon emissions from their vehicles.” (Teletrac). Every year, about 1.3 million people die and are injured from car accidents. Over 90% of these accidents occur because of human error (Robson). The technology of the self-driving cars is so advanced it can leave the right amount of space between the car in front of it, and it can leave enough space for a car to cross lanes if it wants to (Dougherty and Richtel). Without humans behind the wheel car accidents will decrease immediately and programed robots will not crash. Next, “Police officer focus could be shifted from writing traffic tickets and handling accidents to managing other, more serious crimes.” (Auto Insurance). Also, it will be less dangerous to bike and walk on or around the road (Plumer). It would make pedestrians more comfortable because they wouldn’t have to worry as much knowing the cars on the road drive are safer. This will help communities because it will encourage people to be healthier by taking a walk or riding a bicycle. Evidently, driverless vehicles will absolutely make lives safer and healthier.


Some people may believe that with all the new technology provided in self-driving cars, they will cost too much. But actually, in total they may cost less when the drop in other costs are included. To start off, according to a recent study, Fast Company, explains that cars prices will initially be higher, but they will drop significantly every year. Fast Company focuses on innovation in technology, and they are the world's leading progressive business media brand. Once that happens other costs will start to decrease. Furthermore, some aspects of auto insurance will still be needed if autonomous cars come in the future but, “ There will still be a need for liability coverage, but over time the coverage could change, as suggested by the 2014 RAND study on autonomous vehicles, as manufacturers and suppliers and possibly even municipalities are called upon to take responsibility for what went wrong.” (Insurance Information Institute). This will result in lower total cost of auto insurance. Next, in most cases if something does happen to go wrong with the car, the car manufacturer company will have to take responsibility for it, and they would have to pay for it. To enclose, the computerized cars will not need as much gas as the cars were driving today.  Most of them if not all will not even need gas. This would save thousands of dollars per year (AUVSI). AUVSI is the leading global organization representing the views of the unmanned systems and robotics community to government officials, regulators, media and the public.  As proven, the cost of the cars up front will increase because of the technology provided, but other areas needed for one’s car will decrease tremendously. This will allow the cars to not be as expensive after all, and may offer great potential savings.


As aforementioned, autonomous cars are vital to our future. Robotic cars should become a norm in today's world because it would be more convenient, help the environment, and make driving much safer. Sticking to man driving cars is not helping anybody. Thousands of people are dying needlessly because of human error. The planet is suffering and if we use self-driving cars it will become healthier. Humans are being torn apart from the stress of cars. We are the ones who must take responsibility by taking action and requiring the use of self-driving cars. We must demand the use of them now, and in the future.


The author's comments:

I was inspired by my topic because it can transform society, and we have the opportunity to do it.


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.