Image source: bbc.com
Due to the increased number of accidents, autonomous cars have been on the rise in the past few decades. The cars are designed to maintain focus, have clear vision than the human, and avoid car impact. Self-driving cars are the new talk in town and every car manufacturing company is aiming to roll out each other with the driverless vehicles. Before buying a driverless car, consider the following pros and cons.
Pros:
1. No drug driving: Introducing self-driving cars will minimize driver errors and reduce accidents on the roads. There will be no drug-driving on the roads thus, reducing the number of accidents caused by the drivers.
2. Reduce traffic jam and travel time: It helps reduce commute time and reduce traffic on the roads. Coordination of traffic in urban areas will prevent long tailbacks during heavy traffic.
3. Safe driving: There is a low rate of accidents leading to increased car speed limits. The passengers will have a smooth riding experience. The young, old and disabled people will no longer have difficulties traveling.
4. Efficient: The vehicle can keep continuous communication with a network of other self-driving vehicles and adjust the speed based on traffic conditions. This results in reduced fuel costs.
5. Reduce fatigue: Driverless cars reduce driving fatigue since you only relax and wait for the car to drop to the destination area within a short travel time.
6. No specialized skills needed: There are no skills needed for parking or driving the vehicle in difficult terrain areas. The car will drive you to the destination and park itself. No more worries of a driver’s license or even having to pass driving test.
7. Increased visibility: Self-driving cars will be able to see farther ahead, detect objects, avoid crashes, and be able to perceive the environment better compared to human senses.
8. Reduced insurance premiums: Due to the reduced number of accidents on the roads, the car owners can pay reduced insurance premiums.
9. Act as the mini-leisure room: When traveling to long distance places, you can rest or sleep during the ride. You can also watch TV or even music and let the car drive you.
10. Reduce car theft: The AI system and other security measure installed in the vehicles makes it difficult to steal. If the vehicle is stolen, the thief can be trapped inside the vehicle.
Cons:
1. Leads to unemployment: Use of driverless vehicles makes tax and truck drivers will lose their jobs.
2. Security threat: Hackers can get control of the vehicle and alter the vehicle operation software affecting the vehicle’s operations.
3. Weather conditions: In areas where there are heavy rains, it interferes with the laser sensors mounted on the roof. Snow also affects the vehicle camera.
4. Costly: The cost of acquiring the driverless vehicle is very high. The vehicles need continuous upgrades which add to the cost of maintaining the vehicle.
5. Encourages terrorism: Self-driving vehicles can lead to increased terrorist activities since the terrorist can load the vehicles with explosives.
6. System failure: There might be a hardware or software malfunction altering all the travel activities. Software malfunction can cause a serious crash compared to those caused by human errors.
7. Affects individuals driving experience: Relying on cars that are driverless will diminish the experience and proficiency of the drivers. This can affect them later in circumstances where they are required to drive.
8. Accountability: If the driverless car causes a crash, no one to hold responsible for the crash.
9. Difficult to grab human signals: Sometimes the computer infrastructure of a driverless vehicle cannot understand human behavior signals like waving a hand.
10. Security of personal data: In order for the computer to operate a driverless vehicle, personal data is stored in the software. People are concerned about the security of personal data stored in the database.
