Imagine the distant future and you’re likely to picture flying cars, towering cities and bizarre fashion. Decades ago, you might have imagined coffee that brews itself, lights that turn off when you tell them to and cars that drive on their own – all of which exist today. In a way, we already live in a futuristic world.
It’s no doubt that many New Jersey residents might be hesitant to embrace certain technological advances. One gadget gaining attention lately is the self-driving car, which mainly relies on artificial intelligence to operate. As driving is such a dangerous activity, it comes to no surprise that the idea of robots controlling vehicles can be concerning.
However, self-driving cars could eliminate some of the collisions that happen due to human error. After all, the majority of car crashes are preventable, according to a key study on accident causes.
The study showed that the top six reasons for auto accidents in America were as follows:
- Not fully stopping before turning right at a red light
- Sleepy (negligent) driving
- Misjudging the vehicle’s capability (i.e. turning too fast)
- Failing to foresee obstacles and other hazards
- Rear-ending or driving too close behind another car
- Driving off the road
As you can see, drivers could avoid many of these causes if they were aware of everything around them, followed all laws perfectly and never grew tired. This is how self-driving cars can step up and save us from ourselves. They also have the potential to cut down the number of drunk drivers on the road.
Of course, there could be downsides to self-driving vehicles. Like how humans make mistakes, computers have glitches or don’t function according to expectations. Entrusting your life to a robot may be scary for many drivers. Furthermore, it’s hard to know if these vehicles would actually be as safe as the manufacturing companies claim.
So much regarding the safety of self-driving cars is still unknown. Until humans are able to create a perfect form of transportation, there will, sadly, always be motor vehicle accidents. The prospect of eliminating devastating crashes certainly makes the future look a bit more appealing.