Self Driving Cars Essay Example

Dewey Wilkerson once said, “The future is now, old man”. This paper is going to look at one of the coolest futuristic ideas that are on the verge of consumer production.: the self-driving car. You probably hear about a lot of companies that say they have self-driving cars and they do… sort of, they have cars that are close. but they do not have a car that requires absolutely no human input. There are three main topics regarding autonomous cars  The 5 levels of a self-driving car, second the efficiency of autonomy, and  The safety of driverless cars.

First, we are going to look at what makes a car self-driving and for that let’s look at the 5 levels of self-driving cars. Then we can see how close we are today. The 5 different levels are:

Level 0: absolutely no automation driver is fully responsible.

Level 1: the system will perform one task of driving for example the car will help you stay in the lane.

Level 2: the system will perform several tasks for example the car will have an automatic braking system and automatic lane assist.

Level 3: the driver can turn away from the road for a short time but the driver must be ready to take control again.

Level 4: the driver can transfer complete control of the system to the car and it will perform all driving tasks. However, the driver can take control at any time.

And level 5 is absolutely no driver or no steering wheel, nothing. The system does everything all the time.

So we see here that to be a true self-driving car you must have level 5… full autonomy. 

Now companies today have systems like  Volvo pilot assist, Mercedes- Benz drive pilot, general motors supercruise, and the most popular Tesla autopilot. Now none of these are actually self-driving fully 

“Tesla may say that their technology is “full self-driving”... but tesla’s newest tech is only level 2 automation! while tesla has features that make the car switch lanes stop for cars and pedestrians. general motors have offered these features long before tesla has. I just want you to realize that teslas ‘full self-driving” isn't something apart from the rest of the industry it's just the cheekiness of the name.” but tesla is on track to have level 5 self-driving by just 2025! Then most companies release the feature soon after. But Forbes believes that all automobiles will be self-driving by 2040. In fact “55% of small businesses believe that they are going to have a fully autonomous fleet in the next two decades.”

Now that we know about self-driving cars now we will look into the efficiency of autonomy. Did you know that the average American commuter wastes more than a full week in traffic each year? Even with improvements to our transportation networks, drivers in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Seattle can spend over 100 hours each year idling in traffic. Not only does this issue waste their time, but it also contributes a heftier amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to our atmosphere.

Self-driving cars could reduce the problems we have with congestion because each vehicle would be in contact with every other one on the highway. Computers would eliminate the bad driving habits to improve the efficiencies of our current infrastructure. That means everyone could arrive at their intended destination with more incredible speed.

“Self-driving vehicles use systems that find the fastest route to a destination, leading to improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions and costs.”

Self-driving cars could reduce the problems we have with congestion because each vehicle would be in contact with every other one on the highway. Computers would eliminate the bad driving habits to improve the efficiencies of our current infrastructure. That means everyone could arrive at their intended destination with greater speed.”Because computers would be handling the driving responsibilities for long-distance trips, the design of our highway system would support a higher speed limit on straight stretches of road. That means we could arrive at our destinations faster without increasing the risk of an accident. Each autonomous vehicle could calculate its distance between vehicles, determine the highest and safest possible speed, and then work with cabin technologies to ensure every passenger remains safe. Autonomous vehicles would also be more efficient because we would be able to expand the number of cars on the road because cars could drive closer together. Also, Driverless vehicles would reduce the amount of property destruction that occurs every year due to accidents, collisions with wildlife, and similar expenses that happen during these unexpected circumstances. Over $1 billion could be saved each year in just the United States by transitioning most drivers over to this technology. That would mean lower automotive insurance costs, fewer medical judgments due to damage, and more money that could be used to make investments and build wealth. So in the end the efficiency of self-driving vehicles is incredible. 

So we have seen what makes a self-driving car self-driving and the amazing efficiency of autonomous cars. Now let's look into the biggest most amazing luxury of the self-driving world… the safety. 

A 2016 study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration found that human error accounts for anywhere between 94% to 96% of all auto accidents. 

It is estimated that self-driving cars could decrease accident fatalities by as much as 90 percent,  That would cause car accidents to drop from being the second-leading cause of accident-related deaths in the U.S. to being the ninth-leading cause. Also drunk or impaired driving wouldn't even be a thing. “Alcohol-impaired crash fatalities accounted for 28 percent of all crash fatalities. Alcohol is a major factor in traffic crashes.”Every day, 29 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This is one death every 50 minutes. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $44 billion.  we won't have to worry about distracted drivers either. It’s estimated that at least 23% of all car accidents each year involve cell phone use. 10% of fatal car accidents were reported to involve driver distraction. But the huge thing is road rage. road rage is the cause of nearly 1 in 3 crashes. About a third of crashes can be linked to road rage behaviors.

Then there are the safety benefits of the people who cannot drive older people who have lost their driving privileges (like my grandma who still drives around anyway) don't have to worry about endangering themselves or others.

The future is amazing! although this amazing technology is further away than it may sound it will be one of the most incredibly efficient and safe inventions of all time 

Brown, Jim. “What Percentage of Car Accidents Are Caused by Cell Phones?” TheKnowledgeBurrow.com, 27 Dec. 2019, https://theknowledgeburrow.com/what-percentage-of-car-accidents-are-caused-by-cell-phones/. 

ceedee, cee. “Impaired Driving: Get the Facts.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 24 Aug. 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html#:~:text=In%202016%2C%20more%20than%201%20million%20drivers%20were,in%20about%2016%25%20of%20motor%20vehicle%20crashes.%204. 

Chief, Editor in. “21 Key Pros and Cons for Self Driving Cars.” ConnectUS, 6 June 2019, https://connectusfund.org/21-key-pros-and-cons-for-self-driving-cars. 

Clerkin, Bridget. “Driving Us Crazy: Can Autonomous Cars Be Too Efficient?” DMV.ORG Articles, 9 Aug. 2017, https://www.dmv.org/articles/can-autonomous-cars-be-too-efficient.php. 

Cooley, Brian. “Tesla Full Self-Driving: An Overview of How It Works.” Roadshow, CNET, 22 Sept. 2021, https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-full-self-driving-overview-cost-investigation/. 

DriversEd.com. “Wake-up Call: 7 Shocking Road Rage Statistics You Didn't Know.” DriversEd.com, 21 Dec. 2021, https://driversed.com/trending/wake-up-call-7-shocking-road-rage-statistics-you-didnt-know/#:~:text=But%20it%E2%80%99s%20a%20little%20surprising%20to%20learn%20that,changing%20lanes%20without%20signaling%2C%20tailgating%20and%20illegal%20maneuvers.