The Advantages and Disadvantages of Driverless Cars Everyone Should Know

At some point in the future, self-driving cars, also known as autonomous vehicles, will potentially dominate the roadways everywhere, making major improvements to the way we live, move, and work. 

If you want to be ready when that time comes, there is no better time than now to prepare. Part of your preparation is getting to know what a driverless car really is and its pros and cons.

What Are Self-Driving Cars or Autonomous Cars?

Autonomous vehicles are cars or trucks that need little or no human intervention to operate and drive safely.

Driverless vehicles use ultra-high-end hardware that integrates proximity sensors with smart Ai-powered algorithms to monitor, manoeuvre and drive the vehicle safely without requiring a human being to make any input.

What Are the Pros of Self-Driving Cars?

Almost no error

The extremely complex technologies behind self-driving vehicles make hundreds of calculations per second for the on-board machine. These calculations include how far you’re from objects, driving distance, other vehicle behaviour, and position on the road. 

While completely autonomous cars are not on the market as yet, there are cars that have perfecte the near autonomous system to provide some of these features. In fact, Uber’s AI has successfully enabled driverless cars to accurately predict the movement of other vehicles on the road.

Such super-accurate calculations effectively prevent driving mistakes for driverless cars. 

Autonomous vehicles are more likely to save lives 

Every year more than 40,000 accidents occur on roads in the European Union. Nearly 90% of them are caused by humans. These mistakes are caused by speed, driving under the influence, distraction, and much more. Autonomous vehicle deployment would take away normal driving operations from humans. This could remove all human-caused incidents and make roads a safer place to operate in.

Mobility will become accessible for those who cannot drive

Throughout the world, there are numerous individuals who have limited mobility because of their age or illness. There will be no requirement for driver’s licenses or checks for completely autonomous vehicles which ensures that individuals who have been deemed a driving danger in the past may be able to drive again without placing themselves or anyone at risk. 

Faster transportation

Many hours are wasted on the road because of traffic jams as workers get to work late will likely become a thing of the past with autonomous cars.

Autonomous vehicles can feel and even interact with cars that are nearby. Traffic logjam will virtually be eliminated. This will make you get to your destination safely and on schedule because they would have raised speed limits.

Productivity gains

The typical worker commute period is 46 minutes, and data indicates that most drivers feel overwhelmed at peak driving hours. With a car that doesn’t require a driver to function, people will feel even more relaxed and be willing to spend the energy by accomplishing certain things like communicating with old friends, learning a foreign language, reading books or getting ahead of deadlines. 

Save on petrol

Driverless vehicles are more efficient in using petrol, partially because they slow down, brake, and accelerate gradually, all of that will be money in your wallet.  Also, automated vehicles could potentially prove to be a long-term investment as they became commercially accessible in the years ahead. 

Better travelling experience 

Self-driving vehicles carry the tremendous benefit of you not needing to watch out for what’s going on the road. The risk of getting exhausted while behind the steering is eliminated because you will be able to sleep during the trip – ideal for those long journeys. 

The commutes will no longer be as tedious as the technologies would offer you the chance to transform vehicles into entertainment rooms where you can chill and catch a video while you wait to arrive. 

What Are the Cons of Self-Driving Cars?

The expensive cost

Driverless cars are prohibitively expensive. This makes self-driving vehicles an expensive thing for certain people and unaffordable. Autonomous vehicles are expected to cost more than $100,000! 

Hard to ascertain the cause of a crash

It will be impossible to identify who or what is at fault in an incident, as it may be blamed on passengers, suppliers, software developers, and so on. A self-driving vehicle doesn’t reduce the risk of a traffic crash entirely. There is, in reality, no formal standard as to how an accident should be dealt with. 

Many people will lose their job

The implementation of driverless vehicles would trigger many job losses. Cab drivers, truck drivers, and delivery people will be severely impacted. Driverless cars will mean manufacturers produce fewer products and fewer vehicles, resulting in fewer workers and fewer customer options.

Inability to make complex judgement calls

As drivers, we encounter several roadside challenges that allow us to use our judgement. To make an emergency stop it will be easy to configure a driverless car if it senses an obstacle in the middle of the lane. However, due to abrupt braking, driverless cars can fail to determine the risk of being hit from behind. 

Many driving scenarios involve a human aspect that is extracted from knowing outcomes and experience with particular circumstances. It will require a lot of trial and error before we can be confident that the self-driving vehicles will be up for this challenge. 

Potential for hacking

Self-driving cars are more susceptible to the dangers posed by hackers, who may take over control of car power. Hackers, for example, may seize control of an autonomous vehicle and obtain access to sensitive details from the car owner, which may be sold or, more possibly, kept by the intruder for ransom. 

There is also the risk of terror incidents where the attacker might take control and the automated vehicle as a weapon. 

Similarly, because the car is being tracked, there are privacy issues as your details, regular locations, and your home are known.

Can Autonomous Cars Drive Better Than Humans?

An autonomous vehicle’s greatest safety benefit is that a robot isn’t a human, rather, it is designed to follow all the traffic limits, won’t over speed, and can’t be bothered by a text message flashing into a screen. 

And, at least hypothetically, driverless cars can also sense what humans can’t do, especially at night or under low-light conditions – and respond better to avoid a collision

Final Thoughts

Technological developments such as the self-driving vehicle will give users a great deal of comfort in their everyday lives. This up-and-coming technological game-changer has a lot of hope, but it still involves many real safety risks for people as well.