Autonomous Future

Several times recently I have heard or read about the topic of driverless cars. Every time I hear this topic come up I wonder how this could possibly be real. I know that technology is constantly advancing but it makes me nervous to think that we rely on technology to do a task as important as driving a car.

As a society we have deemed that people must reach an age, sixteen, where they are responsible enough to understand all the consequences that come along with driving a car. Every time we get behind the driver's seat we have the responsibility to drive safely so that we do not harm ourselves or others on the road.  

Cars that are able to take over this important task and self drive, lesson our awareness and need to be responsible. This is a new technology and I think it will take many accidents to prove that it is not safe or ethical. Should we even wait that long to decide? If the technology fails and the person in the car is unable to stop an accident from happening people may be seriously injured or even killed. Who’s fault would these accidents be?

Ultimately, we would blame the manufacturer for any design flaws or technology failures. What about the owners of the cars? They made the decision to purchase an autonomous vehicle that is meant to think for them and instead of them. Would they also share the blame?

The future of our roadways is heading towards driverless cars. It may be a long time away before the technology is ready to spread or not. The UK will have a driverless car trial on their motorways in the year 2019. BBC had an updated report.

“The Driven consortium is led by Oxbotica, which makes software for driverless vehicles. Founder Prof Paul Newman, of Oxford University, said: "We're moving from the singleton autonomous vehicle to fleets of autonomous vehicles - and what's interesting is what data the vehicles share with one another, when, and why."The project is backed by an £8.6m government grant and involves an insurance company, which will assess the risks involved at each stage of the journey.” (BBC)

These autonomous cars are also supported by science fiction writer Calum Chace. He was quoted in the BBC article about how he believes the driverless cars will make the roads safer and be more affordable. He said "I don't know why we have to wait until 2019," he said..."It will save so many lives and so much money." (BBC) People’s safety and financial cost or gain are very important factors to consider. If it proves to be overall safer and reduce accidents than it seems to make sense to make the switch to driverless cars. However, I still can’t accept that it won’t be flawless transition and can’t help but wonder who will get hurt when those flaws arise.

It sounds like autonomous cars will not be on the market till at least 2020 according to the guardian article “Twelve things you need to know about driverless cars.” The article also discusses how drivers will have the option to drive manually or let the car drive, allowing the driver to become a passenger and do other tasks such as preparing themselves for work. The Guardian article agrees with the BBC article that roadways will be safer. Stan Boland is a CEO for FiveAI and was quoted saying

“When you eliminate human error, our roads become dramatically safer: no more drink-driving, phone calls at the wheel, carelessness, inattention or plain bad driving. Clearly there needs to be adequate industry testing to ensure that AVs are safe for all other road users, but we can look forward to far safer roads as human drivers become a thing of the past.” (Guardian)

It sounds like safety is a priority, as it should be. However, I personally don’t think I would ever be comfortable being in an autonomous car, at least not one that would have to navigate through the Chicago-land volume of traffic.