Making Self Driving Cars Safer
One of the most exciting developments to happen to cities in decades is the arrival of autonomous (self-driving) vehicles. Major companies and startups have funneled billions of dollars into the development of the hardware and software that power autonomous vehicles. There have been more than 160 deals including investments, partnerships, and acquisitions totaling approximately $80 billion dollars relating to self driving projects.
Now, the big question is, “Are set-driving cars safe?” In March, a self-driving Uber struck and killed a pedestrian. Shortly thereafter, a Tesla Model X was involved in a deadly crash near San Francisco. Although auto-pilot was engaged, Tesla claims that the driver was at fault. Claims of this sort have left the self-driving community uncertain about the safety of these vehicles. This is true, but more and more self-driving cars are being deployed. This, in turn, raises the possibility of a accident taking place involving a self-driving vehicle.
Self-driving vehicles have already been put through millions of miles of road tests, and experts say that the technology clearly has the potential to be safer than human drivers. The positives of these vehicles versus human drivers is that they don’t drive too fast, they don’t text and drive, they don’t drive drunk, and they don’t fall asleep and drift into oncoming traffic. They are very good at detecting and avoiding obstacles, while monitoring around the vehicle 360 degrees. They are also able to take in much more information and they don’t get distracted. That factors makes them safer drivers than humans, but if the systems are not working correctly then this raises a lot of question.
Self-driving vehicles require a lot of maintenance to make sure that these systems are always functioning correctly or the ending result could be disastrous for the riders, possibly ending in a death. This is what leads to the extensive road testing, and this kind of testing is the only way that self-driving vehicles will become safe and widely used on roads throughout the US and abroad. Drivers and riders need to know that self-driving cars aren’t perfect today and they should recognize the liability of using self-driving features. It is really important and should be mandatory for auto makers and self-driving vehicle companies to make this clear to all drivers and riders, which they currently rarely do because they fear that people will not use their vehicles if this was clear to them, but these companies should assume responsibility instead of blaming “human error” on each accident that occurs. This is a big step in establishing trust, and these companies need to start being accountable. Although this “phenomenon” is here to stay, there is still a lot of progress to be made.
