Driverless Cars, Are We Ready?

The UK Chancellor has revealed plans to have driverless cars on the roads within five years. The government supports the ongoing trials. And the goal is close at hand.

However, there is still much cynicism in regard to the safety of autonomous vehicles. A woman was killed by an autonomous vehicle in Arizona. There had been a safety driver in the car in case situations arose. That safety driver was distracted by watching videos on her phone. This accident was enough to cause quite a concern to the public and sponsors.

That one incident is enough to be meticulous about testing, even more so now. There is no way to know when different situations that have not been considered during the testing phases will arise. One concern is when you program the driverless car to stop for any human on the road, citizens will get used to this and constantly walk out in front of the vehicles. There would be no significant order to the roads any longer. Driverless cars will be moot if pedestrians decide they can walk onto a roadway when they choose. If then, the manufacturers work on increasing driverless vehicles’ cautiousness and safety protocol. This could make these driverless vehicles drive too cautiously, which will cause backups and gridlocks on the roadways.

This leaves the question of whether citizens are too anxious to have the new technology. Will the citizens be able to drive alongside autonomous vehicles and not overreact one way or another? Will there ever be a time when all people feel confident about driverless vehicles?

A road safety spokesperson stated that driverless vehicles have a huge potential. The future could be an end to driver errors and the tragic deaths that come from distracted or drunk driving.

For now, both huge companies invested deeply into driverless, autonomous vehicles and are confident that they will have positive results to deliver within a couple of years. There are already a couple of states, Arizona and limited areas of California, where driverless vehicles are on the roadways daily. Of course, most are being driven in limited areas with strict and controlled situations. Even a decade later, there may still be issues when combining autonomous vehicles and vehicles with drivers. They call these mixed-use streets.

Much of the UK is confident of an upcoming economic boost due to driverless vehicles, yet many are concerned over the numerous employment positions that may be eliminated. As in all things, there are two sides to every story and a different ending.