The Evaluation of the Impact of Robotic cars on Humans

People’s Comfort and the Risk of Autonomous Cars

People have grown accustomed to driving traditional vehicles, thus regulating their comfort. However, with the development of robotic vehicles, our ability to monitor our defense is jeopardized because it would be delegated to machines. We are currently at risk of dying as a result of accidents caused by the few autonomous cars that have been produced. The robots can monitor the speed, the routes to take, and many other tasks that could be inconvenient for humans at times. The key contributors in the automated industry include Tesla, Volvo, Google, and Uber and most of them are utilized in developed nations like China, The United Kingdom, Germany, The United States of America e.t.c. Currently, in America, few percentage of people use the robotic cars in their daily transportation while majority shun the idea and stick to their traditional vehicles. Self-driven cars accurately illustrate the disadvantages of machine technology in our modern society based on a set of criteria (Mamiit). An evaluation on how the technology advancement can affect our lives unconstructively through frequent accidents because the manufacturers of robotic cars have not carried out road tests on them, which could prove their safety. They also depend on software, which is sophisticated and mostly opaque thus being unreliable at times, they create traffic issues in the cities and suburban instead of improving transit, and they also lack a good choice in ethical considerations.

Lack of Road Safety Tests for Robotic Cars

The manufacturers of robotic cars have not carried out road tests on them, which could prove that they are much safer than our regular cars (“Imperfect Self-Driving Cars Are Safer than Humans Are”). Self-driven cars’ safety is not guaranteed since they have many conditions and scenarios that make their testing operations confusing. Thus, accidents could easily happen when we use them. For example, there were emerging issues with the Google-commissioned research regarding the steep figure of variables to control the safety of self-driving cars in the examination (Mamiit). However, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 35,200 people died on the roads in 2015, which 94 percent of those deaths resulting from human error as stated (Mamiit). I believe the NHTSA gave inaccurate statistics since currently traditional vehicles are many than robotic vehicles.

Reliability Issues with Robotic Car Software

Robotic cars also depend on software, which is complicated and mostly opaque. The new advanced software is unreliable due to their sophistication crafted by the manufacturers thus endangering our lives. For example, in some automated systems, it can be confusing to comprehend why a particular car made a decision in its operating system like decelerating, accelerating, or opening the windows while it is freezing outside. Nevertheless, few issues like this usually always occur in every car since to err is to human and even machines are not exempted (Mamiit). However, with the advanced technology, this should not happen. I believe the developers should have tested all their cars to the extent that their consumers will not feel the percentage of error.

Ethical Considerations and Robotic Car Decision Making

Robotic cars have poor decision making a choice when it comes to ethical considerations. Human beings are the only ones who have clear decision-making when it comes to ethical issues unlike machines, which do not care and have less understanding of nature. Automated cars do not meet the ethical road consideration standards that involve thinking like humans do put their brain to work to make right choices. For example, when the machine is faced with a different choice of running into a group of young school children crossing the road or going off the bridge; it will kill the children and save its passenger (Goodman). Nonetheless, Google claimed that their automated cars have collision-avoidance systems, which can make them, stop once it senses a person or object (Mamiit). I believe senses and ethical consideration are two different things thus their claim is not convincing.

Increase in Traffic Issues with the Rise of Robotic Cars

The increase in the production of automated cars will only create traffic problems to suburban areas and cities when they should be looking up to improve transit and motivating people to walk and ride bikes instead (Mamiit). With the development of automated cars, traditional cars are not being replaced thus congestion in our streets. For example, Tesla, Volvo, Google, and Uber have declared that they will all get driverless trucks and cars on the United States roads by 2021 (“Imperfect Self-Driving Cars Are Safer than Humans Are”). Nonetheless, according to Uber, they have proposed an initiative in Los Angeles to amalgamate driverless cars into the public transportation fleet. The micro transit systems objective is to serve passengers better than single-passenger vehicles, which will auxiliary help to prompt the decrease car ownership in America thereby reducing traffic congestion and unwanted accidents caused by human-driven vehicles (Mamiit). I believe their proposal if initiated will affect many Americans since the majority of the population prefers their traditional cars thus inconveniencing their daily transportation.

Conclusion

The majorities of the robotic cars distributors frequently speak with pride and use a lot of flattery in their speeches trying to convince the consumers to be part of their advanced technology vehicles. Of course, that is part of their jobs to make people believe in their products with the goal of making profits. Sometimes, there are some faults in their systems, but they would rather keep quiet about it than inform consumers who might panic thus avoiding to purchase them leading to the firm’s loss. That is the price of business; however, they cannot hide the facts surrounding the disadvantages of their cars. We are humans, and that means that we are irreplaceable. Inventions are there to make our lives better. However, robotic cars seem to against this notion since they can easily cause our deaths due to accidents. Their safety records have not been proven; they cannot also understand our hand signals, road signs, and ethical issues too. Despite their flaws, they have some advantages like they do not have attitudes like human drivers. In overall, if insurance firms and lawmakers are intelligent enough, robotic vehicles should be removed from American roads to save innocent lives.

Sum up evaluation

In summing up, the introduction of the evaluation provides an insight into all the criteria discussed in the paper with the disagreement of the topic chosen of whether robotic cars are suitable for human consumption in terms of transportation. The evaluation of criterion 1 displays how the manufacturer’s lack of road tests of their products poses a significant risk to their customers; hence, risking their lives. In criterion 2, the sophistication of their software, which is sometimes opaque, makes them unreliable at times thus not safe. In criterion 3, their lack of having a chance to make a sound ethical decision makes them untrustworthy concerning saving human lives thus portraying their major drawback. In criterion 4, the increase of the robotic cars will only lead to congestion in the suburban areas and cities instead of improving transit. Finally, the conclusion provides the summary of all the criteria plus a lucid explanation of my opinion.

Works Cited

“Imperfect Self-Driving Cars Are Safer Than Humans Are.” WSJ, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/imperfect-self-driving-cars-are-safer-than-humans-are-1471188659.

Mamiit, Aaron. “Study Says Self-Driving Cars Are Safer Than Human-Driven Vehicles: Should You Believe It?”. http://www.techtimes.com/articles/123214/20160112/study-says-self-driving-cars-are-safer-than-human-driven-vehicles-should-you-believe-it.htm.

Goodman, Paul. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Driverless Cars.” AxleAddict, 2016, https://axleaddict.com/safety/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Driverless-Cars