One of the biggest current topics in the world of cars is the issue of self-driving cars. Technology has enabled developers to produce cars that, as their name explains, don’t require a human driver. Are these self-driving cars going to be seen on roads any time soon or is it an idea that people won’t take to?
Defining self-driving cars
There may be as many as 10 million self-driving cars on our roads by 2020, at least according to The Business Insider. What this prediction takes into account is the fact that lots of cars already have a number of self-driving features: some cars are able to coast, accelerate and slow down with little or no input from the driver, for example. There will be some cars that have limited self-driving capabilities and some that are fully capable of driving themselves. Cars that are fully capable of driving themselves are ones that can successfully drive from one place to another and deal with all possible scenarios they might face.
Safety concerns
One of the biggest concerns – if not the biggest concern – when it comes to self-driving cars is their safety. By letting a car drive itself, you’re essentially letting a computer out on to the road, where it will have to be as good a driver as the people in the cars around it. In America, over 90% of traffic accidents are caused by human error, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Taken this into account, one of the main positives of self-driving cars is their supposed capability to reduce the number of road accidents by taking human error out of the equation. Even if crashes do take place, computer systems can detect things a lot more quickly than humans. According to this article in The Guardian, many believe self-driving cars will be much safer on the whole because there’s no potential for human error involved and the cars can react much more quickly to potentially dangerous situations.
Advanced software
As well as safety concerns, there are concerns about the software used in self-driving cars. If you’re putting a computer in charge of your car, would that computer be advanced enough to tell the difference between a harmless and a harmful situation? Would a computer be able to decide whether it’s better for you to turn left or right? If self-driving cars don’t come with a driver, would the computer know exactly when to apply the brakes? And carry out all the checks that are required to ensure the vehicle is safe? In short, the technology behind self-driving cars has to ensure these cars can do everything a typical human driver can do.
The future is coming
California recently became the first state to formally announce its proposed regulations for self-driving cars. It makes sense, after all, because California is a technology powerhouse, home to many of the world’s most successful technology companies. As reported in Biz News, one of the proposed regulations is that there should always be a licensed driver in a self-driving car who is capable of taking over control of the car in case of an emergency situation. Self-driving cars should also have a steering wheel and manual foot brakes to enable the licensed ‘driver’ to take over in emergency situations.
The future of self-driving cars is sure to be interesting. California has already started considering the use of self-driving cars and even though there are concerns about them, there’s a good chance you’ll be seeing self-driving cars on the roads at some point in the future.