STEM PERIOD 2Mr. HansenHow will Self-Driving Cars Change the Way People Live?By GageINTRODUCTIONAutonomous cars (or self-driving cars) have been around for a while now. This may interest, and worry us, most apparent because we do not know enough about driverless cars.Technology of Self-Driving CarsAutonomous cars are vehicles outfitted with sensors (sonar, LiDAR, cameras, and radar) that handle data from the environment. Software and processors examine and process the data to recreate road conditions in three dimensions, recognizing objects such as transportation lanes, obstacles, strollers, other vehicles, and even signage. A power control device carries out driving functions, commands the brakes, steering wheel, and gas pedal.Companies that produce Self-Driving CarsGoogle was the leading company to operate an autonomous car. The Google Car was developed by Google’s Google X, renamed Alphabet Inc.
in 2015. Two types of vehicles are used: adjusted models, like the Toyota Prius, Lexus RX, and Audi TT, and Google Cars, driverless vehicles without steering wheels, brakes, or gas pedals, fully developed by Google. In November 2015, Google unveiled some fairly convincing stats: in six years, there had been only seventeen insignificant accidents over more than 1.9 million miles!BenefitsThe leading cause of most automobile accidents today is driver fault. Alcohol, drugs, speeding, aggressive driving, over-compensation, inexperience, slow response time, inattentiveness, and poor road layouts are all participating factors. Given some 40 percent of accidents can be traced to the abuse of drugs and or alcohol, self-driving cars would practically eliminate those accidents altogether. The Eno study found if ten percent of all cars were self-driving, as many as 211,000 accidents would be limited annually. DisadvantagesOn May 7, 2016, in Florida, a Tesla Model S user deceased while the self-driving system was operating the car.
The car’s Autopilot mode (Tesla’s title for their company’s self-driving way) was unable to detect a tractor-trailer because of weather restrictions and light. The wreck confirmed that the system had to be made perfect. Since then, about only two small severe clashes have also been reported.
My OpinionI think self-driving cars are good, all this evidence above are reasons why.ConclusionWhile surely some faulty mechanics can be cited as the cause of several accidents, more often than not drivers themselves are the most dangerous things about hitting the open road. The truth is that there are so many parts of play when a driver gets behind the wheel and a trustworthy road knowledge relies on a driver that is 100 percent focused on the road.
