Self-Driving Cars

Larry Bruce Keely III

Sally Spear

March 22, 2019

 AI is not the future it is the present. If there’s any best place to start the creation of AI it

would be for sure in a spot where people don’t always like doing, which is driving. Self-driving

cars are definitely in the testing stages and probably will not be in total effect till the next

generation of humans. There’s a lot of pros and cons to cost to how much safety it will actually

provide. The general objectives on the product, is making money, another way of traveling, and

provide safety to the up most and start the AI revolution.

One of the biggest pros for self-driving cars have so many good benefits. According to

Auto Insurance center, “In comparison to the myriad of bad behaviors a driver might exhibit

behind the wheel, a computer is actually an ideal motorist. Since 81 percent of car crashes are the

result of human error, computers would take a lot of danger out of the equation entirely.” This

statistic would result in a lot of life saved. In 2018, according to nsc.org, roughly forty thousand

according people died in a car crash, but if society was completely self-driving then it would be

estimate of thirty two thousand less deaths a year, which is gigantic difference compared to forty

thousand. Why this statistic can be proven is because of human error; distractions, road rage,

eating, texting, and or tiredness which the computer has none of these problems.

How much would the car cost considering that it all the newest technology is on it

including a laser system, cameras all around and motion sensors around the car. Auto Insurance

Center states that just the engineering aspect itself would be over hundred thousand dollars

alone. This is not including the designs, cameras, laser sensor, or even the car parts etc. In this

result how many people will actually be able to afford this car when it comes out, the price will

be so high the demand will be extremely low, which would end up slowing the all AI vehicles

movement back a few decades. According to This Week, self-driving cars will be flooding the
streets in 2020 and by 2030 is predicted that almost all cars will be non-human automated. By

2030 should be the end result of the product, where it’s near perfection and completely safe.

Insurance companies are soon coming to a complete end. This will save money for

people not just in America but all around the world tons of money. Why buy the car if the factory

is not insured its save to use, you shouldn’t have to pay for it if it’s not entirely save. Nerd Wallet

says, “86% of insurances people pay for is car insurances but by 2050 it will be 22% or less.”

Even though they are making self-driving cars they will still have the driving function for some

of the people who will still love driving, which is why the auto insurance companies will still

somewhat be around.

A con that will impact companies like Lyft and Uber is that there will be a lot of job cuts.

On a site called cbs.com, Uber solidly states that “Technology also creates new work

opportunities while disrupting existing ones.” Meaning that, yes uber, lyft, and normal taxi

drivers will be losing their jobs but this was also creating different jobs. It would definitely have

more people working on the car and maintaining the cars because no matter what all machines

are not perfect so software and electrical skills will come to play on these cars. Uber also

mentioned that truck drivers would be the first of the transportation side of jobs that would be the

first to be hit, why have a human who has to go eat, the restroom, and sleep when you can have a

robot that will constantly drive till it has approached its targeted spot. Currently even taxi drivers

in general have been expanding rapidly on their technology skills such as GPS, tablet, and credit

card machines since the world is becoming much more complicated.

With self-driving cars also impacts not just the road but cities incredibly. Wired says that

our cities and roads will drastically change due to them being made for humans. Cities would

lose stop signs, stop lights, metered parking spot on the side of the road. This would enable a lot
green spaces and possibly more trees and grass. Wired also states that the only signs they could

see still being around are bus stops or directions to get to a bus stop. Speed limits around the city

and even a possibility in the city would increases due to the machine knowing it would not hit

another machine, resulting in an even faster way of travel. Buildings in the city usually has

parking garages but if your cars drop you off and drive themselves to park, then there would be

no need in a underground parking lot saving a lot of new businesses that are creating a new

building save money. Jay walking as a crime would also disappear considering the car should

sense your presences so you can freely walk in the street.

Police Officers will see changes and in general all law influenced with transportation will

have a drastic change. Police will not have to focus on the minor crimes like speeding tickets and

will actually be able to be focus on the much more serious crimes. The reality of a car speeding

when its controlled by a machine seems like it was hacked, but other than that the car should

follow the guide lines on how fast and the details of how the road works for the car. Knowing

this is a possibility, then police officer could be a “cyber control force” where it can track how

fast your car is going and then maybe be able to shut it down if it has been hacked, something

like an insurance.

If a computer hit another computer what kind of case would that be, would the person or

the company who made the car be at fault for the accident and who would be responsible for the

payout of the damage of the cars? That is huge question that a lot people even including some of

the judges are asking, According to Fortune it states the person in the front seat is considered at

fault for now while cars art still able to be driven and automatic. Fortune does not state anything

about the future when they become true fully automatic where the driver cannot take control.
This will be a difficult topic to discuss and will have a bunch of debates on how the process of

the case should and handled.

According to Freckly law firm, “Nobody would need to own a driverless car. Instead a

“car share” system could be implemented that would allow several families to share one vehicle.

This would also mean vehicle maintenance costs would be shared.” If this were the case, this

would reduce jobs, but would most likely increase the cost on maintenance considering they

need a decent wage on the car and it would be consider a much more complexed machine since it

has software and lasers sensors unlike simple machines with just moving wheels and axels. This

would reduce the amount of natural gas we consume by a large amount and would take away the

amount of construction on roads. America would not need as many workers repave because the

roads would not be as used due to multi families using one car. That’s taking the typical 2 or 3

car family and reducing it to 1 for 3 families that’s 6-9 cars less on the road, and if everyone does

that then traffic should substantially decrease.

With self-driving cars also comes perfected electrical cars. This meaning everywhere

around the world that has natural gases also known as oil will lose a lot of revenue. Gas stations

would be non-existent but charge stations would be the thing typically replacing them. Currently

there are some gas stations where they actually have electric pumps for the hybrid or electric

cars. This change is such a big change around the world since it is been a century since cars have

ran on fossil fuels so it would be lots of jobs would be lost not just in America but around the

world. This will stop a lot of the current global warming crisis; electric cars will be perfected

way before self-driving due to it focused and way more researched on.

Instead of focusing on driving you talk to your passenger, watch a movie, text or friend or

whatever you like to do then drive in a car. Self-driving cars would allow you to put less focus
on the road and more into your life. You would be much more social instead of doing an

unending chore, which most people have to do every day to go and come home to work.

Self-driving cars are here. The cars are currently being tested and made by major

companies, which will increase the process of them becoming prefect. There is a lot of focus

and development going into and the results will be here before you know it, in the next decade. A

lot of change will be happening and the impacts will be very beneficial and could hurt others

such as jobs to improving cities. The next generation of humans will not need to drive.
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Mar. 2019, www.autoinsurancecenter.com/top-20-pros-and-cons-associated-with-self-driving-

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www.autobytel.com/car-ownership/advice/10-benefits-of-self-driving-cars-121032/.

Buczynski, Beth, et al. “With Self-Driving Cars, Auto Insurance's Time Is Limited.” NerdWallet,

21 Aug. 2017, www.nerdwallet.com/blog/insurance/self-driving-cars-end-auto-insurance/.

Johnson, Leif, and Michelle Fitzsimmons. “Uber Self-Driving Cars: Everything You Need to

Know.” TechRadar, TechRadar The Source for Tech Buying Advice, 25 May 2018,

www.techradar.com/news/uber-self-driving-cars.

Goodman, Paul. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Driverless Cars.” AxleAddict, AxleAddict,

24 Jan. 2019, axleaddict.com/safety/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Driverless-Cars