Autonomous Cars: Are They Truly the Future?
Allowing autonomous cars with no human driver behind the wheel has been a controversial topic for a few years now. As in most topics like this, there’s both pros and cons. At first, the thought of a total self driven car seems insane, unreal, and out of hand, however, we are much closer to that than we think. In the article “29 Must-Know Self Driving Statistics” author Raj Vardhman discusses how as technology is increasing, by 2025 (in 4 years) North America is predicted to own the highest percentage of self driving vehicles in the world at 29%. Of course accidents occur with self driving vehicles, however, most of these are due to human intervention outside the car itself. “94% of all road accidents happen due to human error, as reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration” and by that logic, that makes future autonomous vehicles much safer than the current vehicles we have (Vardhman, 2020).
After looking at arguments for and against complete autonomous vehicles being allowed to drive alone I do think they should be and I think eventually it’s going to become a reality. They have the ability to help the elderly, disabled, and those who cannot get around on their own, while providing a faster and more accessible way to do that. The technology is is only going to expand from here. Something the truly surprised me was how rapidly this industry is truly growing. While there still is no complete autonomous vehicle in the United States, the AV industry is increasing roughly 16% each year. Perhaps my biggest takeaway from this exploration of AI and autonomous vehicles is the capability of how dangerous yet fascinating it can be. Sam Harris, speaker of the Ted Talk “Can we build AI without losing control over it?” states that “If we build machines that are more intelligent than we are, they will very likely explore the spectrum in ways we can’t imagine and exceed us in ways that we can’t imagine”. While the truth is there is no way to determine how far and how fast AI will advance there is no doubt good things can come from it. It’s an uncharted territory and in order for it to be successful we must understand what we are creating to its fullest capability.
Harris, S. (2016, June). Can we build AI without losing control over it? Retrieved January 22, 2021, from https://www.ted.com/talks/sam_harris_can_we_build_ai_without_losing_control_over_it
Vardhman, R. (2020, January 08). 25+ Intriguing Self-Driving Car Statistics in 2020 (Updated). Retrieved January 22, 2021, from https://carsurance.net/blog/self-driving-car-statistics/
