Public Health and Safety: Self-Driving Cars
Intro: As more and more companies produce their own self-driving cars, questions arise regarding how they will influence society. They include:
- Where will these cars be parked, and how much space will they take up on the road?
- How will they be fueled, and who will pay for it?
- How will we handle the ethical situations if these cars cause accidents?
- What will be the consequences of lost jobs and income for those who drive for a living?
Thesis: The arrival of self-driving cars can improve transportation in three ways: they are more cost-effective, more space-efficient, and safer.
First, self-driving cars can improve transportation by providing more cost-effective ways of getting around and maintaining themselves. For example, 50% of Uber rides in San Fransisco are shared, meaning riders and drivers save money by combining routes (Chase). Self-driving cars, especially electric-powered ones, could remove the need for taxes on drivers' licenses, gas, and parking, and traffic fines (Chase). According to Hendricks, "AAA reports that the average annual amount spent on a car in America is close to $9,000." This cost could be reduced because insurance rates would decrease with self-driving cars since they are safer (according to Hendricks). He also believes that they cost less in terms of maintenance since they are not operated by humans.
Next, self-driving cars can provide more space in our communities. Chase believes that if we incorporate self-driving cars into our primary transportation system, we can eliminate parking spaces, both on and off-street, parking garages, and even parking for every single home. This would open up pedestrian-friendly transport such as biking trails and walking trails. It would also open up space for more greenery and outdoor public furniture.
Finally, and most debatably, self-driving cars are generally safer. Hendricks argues that distractions, emotions, and recklessness cause most accidents. He records, "A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed that 94% of accidents were caused by the drivers themselves." The website Carsurance records that, "At the moment, self-driving cars have a higher rate of accidents compared to human-driven cars, but the injuries are less serious." In my personal experience, the worst and most fatal accidents have been caused by human error: my grandmother passed away from an accident in which a truck driver went through an intersection. My cousin suffered a traumatic brain injury after he didn't pay attention while driving on a cliff, and my parents were hit going through an intersection on the way to the hospital the day I was born. These would have been avoided by self-driving cars because they rely on cameras, sensors, radars, maps and could be created to communicate with other vehicles on the road.
-Annika V.
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Sources:
Hendrick, Drew. "Five Reasons You Should Embrace Self-Driving Cars." startupgrind.com.
Chase, Robin. "Self-Driving Cars Will Improve Our Cities, If They Don't Ruin Them." Backchannel. August 10, 2016.
"29 Must-Know Self-Driving Statistics (2022 Edition)." Carsurance. January 18, 2022. https://carsurance.net/insights/self-driving-car-statistics/#:~:text=At%20the%20moment%2C%20self%2Ddriving,million%20miles%20for%20regular%20vehicles.
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Here is a really informative VIDEO called "How Will Autonomous Vehicles Transform Our Cities?" It is a Ted Talk by Nico Larco, an Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at University of Oregon and Director of the Urbanism Next Research Initiative.
The position in favor of shifting transportation to self-driving cars is hard, if not impossible, to refute. One cannot deny the benefits of safety, cost-effectiveness, and the benefit to the environment. These points form the initiative for self-driving cars, and understandably so. The idea of eliminating fatalities/severe injuries while saving money and the planet are ideals that only a villain could oppose. With that being said, the impending shift to self-driving cars has points that I believe suffer from severe oversimplification. There are areas for concern, such as the side effects from completely changing the transportation industry and the length that the change will have to go through to be effective - which creates a different set of issues.
While the article from Robin Chase, “Self-Driving Cars Will Improve Our Cities, If They Don't Ruin Them.” Does state that the impact of self-driving cars has yet to be determined, the process of rebuilding the transportation system for self-driving cars comes with a school of problems. One issue is that the entire structure of society will change. The article states that millions of jobs, billions of lives, and trillions of dollars are at stake. There is no guarantee that a favorable solution is available, making this shift more fearful than a promising future for some people. If we explore another aspect of the unpredictability, you have to consider the reality of weary citizens hesitating to make the shift. If the majority does not achieve the transition to self-driving cars, uncertainties that have not yet been assessed will begin to factor in. Factoring in human drivers with an increased number of autonomous vehicles was not addressed by the article and raises a valid area of concern. Would a more extensive mix of human and artificial drivers negatively impact traffic? Will there be a noticeable change in the arguing points if the shift is not achieved in full? Public skepticism will play a vital role in the switch to self-driving cars. The American Automobile Association (AAA) study revealed that 71% of U.S. drivers admitted they are afraid of riding in self-driving vehicles; this fact explores an area that could stall the shift to self-driving cars globally.
There is also a lack of distinction in both articles, which undermines their goal to push for self-driving cars. The core of the argument is to push for the transition to self-driving vehicles - Does this mean away with gasoline entirely? Does this mean ride sharing to eliminate traffic? If so, would a switch to mass transportation be better? These are all points made but not expounded on, which I believe harms the overall goal of the authors. Change on the scale proposed in the articles will alter society in every aspect we know. The finer details must be ironed out for the transition to occur and have positive effects.
In all, I agree that the switch to self-driving cars is a step in the right direction; the means by getting there and the repercussions involved is where I diverge. As a society, we are decades off from changing our transportation system. Although the process is slowly starting to occur, fundamental changes need to be made for the transition to be effective.
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Chase, Robin. "Self-Driving Cars Will Improve Our Cities, If They Don't Ruin Them." Backchannel. August 10, 2016.
Edmonds, Ellen. “Three in Four Americans Remain Afraid of Fully Self-Driving Vehicles.” AAA Newsroom, 18 Nov. 2020, https://newsroom.aaa.com/2019/03/americans-fear-self-driving-cars-survey/.
Eliot, Lance. “Are 175 Million Americans Right about Driverless Cars? Remarkably, Yes.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 3 May 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2019/05/03/are-175-million-americans-right-about-driverless-cars-remarkably-yes/?sh=3bb69ff74d62.
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