The future has arrived, and self driving cars, once a fantasy of the past, are quickly becoming a reality. Although fully autonomous vehicles are not yet available, tests are being done in various parts of the world to bring these cars to our homes. Who will be the first to get these self driving cars? Public transit and the wealthy will most likely get the first taste of fully autonomous cars. By 2020, these vehicles should start becoming available to the general public to purchase. So what are some issues with the development of self driving cars? The development of these vehicles, will greatly affect multiple areas of our society. (Insurance, jobs, lack of purchasing vehicles
The first way our society will be affected would probably be in the public transit sector, and the availability of jobs in public transit. As it is now, many individuals
are employed as bus drivers, taxi cab drivers, metrolink operators, however, it appears that the appearance of driverless vehicles may put these people's jobs at risk. Businesses continuously attempt to find ways to cut costs. For companies that employ drivers to shuttle the public around, the two major costs are fuel, and the driver. With the rise of hybrid vehicles, which save copious amounts of money on gas, it appears the next thing to go will be the driver. If employed drivers are replaced with driverless cars, then the prices for consumers to obtain a ride, will drop and the cost of providing these services will drop for the provider. So it appears both the customers and businesses benefit, while the employees suffer. They will be forced to find a new line of work, despite the fact that many of them have been drivers in public transit for most of their lives.
Insurance policies on vehicles will also change due to the emergence of driverless vehicles. As it stands, human drivers are careless, and have the propensity to make mistakes, leading to a higher insurance cost, to cover the possible loss money in the event of an accident. However, the use of automated vehicles, will lower these costs because machines, are programmed to avoid the mistakes of humans, and if perfected, would be much safer to use when compared to driving a vehicle manually. Lower insurance costs for driverless cars, would inevitably lead to an increase cost for individuals who refuse to buy an automated vehicle, which would inevitably force many people to purchase these new vehicles.
It appears that we will be ushered into a new era, which may promote the use of self driving automated cars, to be called when desired, and to shuttle individuals around, much like Uber, but without drivers. It appears, that one day in the near future, individuals would be discouraged from purchasing their own vehicle, and instead be more inclined to use one of the driverless vehicle fleet services. Whatever the case may be in the future, it is undeniable that these new automated vehicles are in our societies near future, and they will shape our world in a completely different way.
The first way our society will be affected would probably be in the public transit sector, and the availability of jobs in public transit. As it is now, many individuals
are employed as bus drivers, taxi cab drivers, metrolink operators, however, it appears that the appearance of driverless vehicles may put these people's jobs at risk. Businesses continuously attempt to find ways to cut costs. For companies that employ drivers to shuttle the public around, the two major costs are fuel, and the driver. With the rise of hybrid vehicles, which save copious amounts of money on gas, it appears the next thing to go will be the driver. If employed drivers are replaced with driverless cars, then the prices for consumers to obtain a ride, will drop and the cost of providing these services will drop for the provider. So it appears both the customers and businesses benefit, while the employees suffer. They will be forced to find a new line of work, despite the fact that many of them have been drivers in public transit for most of their lives.
Insurance policies on vehicles will also change due to the emergence of driverless vehicles. As it stands, human drivers are careless, and have the propensity to make mistakes, leading to a higher insurance cost, to cover the possible loss money in the event of an accident. However, the use of automated vehicles, will lower these costs because machines, are programmed to avoid the mistakes of humans, and if perfected, would be much safer to use when compared to driving a vehicle manually. Lower insurance costs for driverless cars, would inevitably lead to an increase cost for individuals who refuse to buy an automated vehicle, which would inevitably force many people to purchase these new vehicles.
It appears that we will be ushered into a new era, which may promote the use of self driving automated cars, to be called when desired, and to shuttle individuals around, much like Uber, but without drivers. It appears, that one day in the near future, individuals would be discouraged from purchasing their own vehicle, and instead be more inclined to use one of the driverless vehicle fleet services. Whatever the case may be in the future, it is undeniable that these new automated vehicles are in our societies near future, and they will shape our world in a completely different way.
I am really curious about driverless car technology. The space is really interesting, but there does seem to be many drawbacks as well. I recently read an article that mentioned how driverless 18 wheeler trucks are coming, which will again eliminate thousands of jobs for truck drivers. Also for companies like UPS, they could utilize this as well and would have no need for drivers either.
ReplyDeleteMy roommate is under the impression that in ten years it will be illegal for people to drive their own cars and we will be solely reliant on driverless technology. I think this is ridiculous. I think it will take many, many years before this technology can be adopted by the masses. It's been about 7 years since EV's even launched and they are still only available to a very select group of people and will stay that way for at least 5 more years. These things are so hard to predict but it will definitely be interesting to see how this technology develops over the next few years.
I agree with you that this type of technology probably won't be available to the general populace for quite some time. This will definitley remain a wealthy commodity for some time and will honestly probably be adopted by companies like Uber. I think that companies like this will eventually phase all drivers out to use this type of technology instead. You make a great point about this type of technology cutting out the need to employ thousands of drivers. Companies will undoubdetly choose the driverless car option because it is more cost effective. Unfortunately that puts thousands out of work who have no other means of making money. Thus increasing the need for jobs and having less openings for people. It will definitely be interesting to see where the future will take us in regards to driverless cars.
DeleteInteresting article. Though I see your point how driverless cars could affect cab/bus/etc driver jobs, I'd argue that this would not happen for some time. Even if the technology is stellar right off the bat, as our culture adjusts to a driverless age, people may have concerns for safety with no cab/bus/etc company representative present--whether this fear is justified or not. In the case of an emergency (due to a tech. malfunction, an accident with another driver at fault, or an incident caused by other passengers), I feel consumers will demand an employe present in the front seat, even if he/she is not driving the vehicle.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I believe you missed one of the most pillar ways the world will change with driverless cars: the pregame. People will be able to drink on the way to their destinations! Bars will need to expand there parking lots. What an exciting time to be alive!
Interesting topic! I definitely see a future where vehicles on the roads are all autonomous. Also, I think that we will see a future where most people do not own cars at all. Instead, they will opt to use something cheaper: ride services such as Uber and Lyft (who will definitely choose to go driverless as soon as possible), or autonomous public transportation.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I bring this topic up to the Uber/Lyft drivers I currently ride with, many of them scoff and do not believe that this is a possible future. That's funny, since Google's autonomous car is already licensed to drive, and is actually safer to ride with than a real person... after all, to err is human, and humans often make some huge errors on the road!
My friends have talked to me about how exciting it is that self-driving cars are becoming a reality, and that they will soon take over the roads as humans sit back and enjoy the ride. However, this just keeps troubling me whenever I hear it, as something about this sounds terrifying. Technology can always malfunction, and I personally do not feel comfortable trusting technology to drive the hundreds of thousands of cars out on the highways all day every day. People do argue that humans get into many car accidents every year and that the technology will be smart enough to counter this, but this is not certain. And, if there is an accident caused by the technology rather than a person, then who is to blame?
ReplyDelete