The Impact of Driverless Cars on Society

Introduction

Driverless cars are nearly here. In the future, all cars will be fully automated so will not need a driver in the car. This will change the way we travel forever. It will have a major impact on the way we live and how cities work. How will driverless cars affect us in the future? Cars Cars were invented in 1886 by Karl Benz. Karl Benz invented a four-wheeled vehicle with an engine. Before cars, vehicles had to be powered by horses, steam or by people. It was a big change as people could travel anywhere in a car. The cars were controlled using a steering wheel, pedals for the brakes and accelerator and a lever for changing gears. The cars were not very comfortable. The early cars were difficult to drive and not very safe so there were lots of car accidents. Progression to Automation Since 1886 cars have become more automated. Car manufacturers have been trying to make cars easier and safer for people to drive. The improvements over the years have slowly helped develop the car to a fully automated driverless car. The first big development was electric starters in 1911 that meant the car could be started by turning a key or a lever. Before then, the car was started by winding a crank. In 1921, there was automatic transmission which meant you did not need to manually change gears. The latest inventions have helped with full automation, like reversing cameras, automatic parking and navigation systems. All of this technology has developed toward driverless cars.

When We Will Use Driverless Cars

The technology for driverless cars already works but there are some issues for governments and car manufacturers to sort out. The main issue with everyone having a driverless car is that on public roads there are lots of unexpected obstacles and hazards which computers cannot deal with. Experts predict that driverless cars might be legal for everyone by 2020 but full replacement of cars will take decades. People have calculated that by 2050, 80-100 percent of people will be using driverless cars. Driverless cars were not invented by one person in one day. By the time driverless cars are used by everyone, there will have been thousands of people working on them over many years, sharing their ideas with each other. The big breakthrough came at the DARPA Grand Challenge when teams competed to see how could invent a driverless car to travel through the desert. No one was able to complete the challenge but they did in 2005. Now the inventors are trying to make the technology work on all roads so everyone can have one. In England there are already two-seater taxis which act as transportation in England. Some airports around the world use driverless buses to go around in a loop. In 2013, driverless cars were made legal in four U.S. States, Nevada, Florida, California and Michigan. In Europe they were also made legal in Belgium, France and Italy. In the UK, they are planning to operate transport systems for driverless cars and other countries have allowed testing of robotic cars in traffic.

Pros and Cons of Driverless Cars

Driverless cars will help us in many ways. Driverless cars will be controlled by computers which do not make mistakes like people. Driverless cars could reduce the amount of crashes as 80% of crashes around the world are caused by humans. For example, very tired drivers or people who do not know how to drive properly. In the future driverless cars could become sleeping and resting places for people especially during long rides. People could listen to music or even work from driverless cars while travelling. Driverless cars will reduce traffic jams because the artificial intelligence software will be able to communicate with other vehicles and avoid traffic. Reduced travel time of vehicles will also help the environment. Governments and insurance companies are trying to work out who will be at fault if there are accidents with driverless cars. There are also ethical issues because computers may need to make difficult decisions. For example, should a driverless car swerve to avoid someone on a pedestrian crossing but kill the people in the car or should the car save the passengers.

The artificial intelligence software is not ready to make these decisions, and neither are governments. When driverless cars replace normal cars there will be lots of waste when the old cars are dumped. That will be bad for the environment. It will also be very expensive for governments to replace all the roads and infrastructure for driverless cars. Security will be a very big risk because driverless cars have wireless connection to the outside world Car makers are focusing on developing secure networks and software updates that can be installed as soon as it is time for driverless cars to be revealed. Driverless Cars are now very close to being a big product in the market. However, while the pace of driverless technology is developing, insurance companies have not caught up with the new technology to support driverless cars. An example of this, is if there was an accident or a crash with people using driveress cars in it, how could you blame a human driver who is not in control of the car that caused the crash.

Conclusion

The biggest advantage of driverless cars is that no one has to drive so all the passengers can do whatever they like such as listening to music or doing their jobs while travelling. Cars will be like a moving living room. Unfortunately, there are still some issues that car manufacturers and governments have to overcome before everyone can use them. The biggest concerns are safety and the ethical issues. Once these issues are sorted out, driverless cars will completely change how we travel and could be a great for all future generations.