While the arrival of self-driving automobiles has many potential benefits, it also has its own set of challenges. Technology is never flawless, and computers may be hacked. Furthermore, while autonomous cars will make our roads safer, they may also have unexpected societal implications, such as greater unemployment rates.
Some possible issues with self-driving automobiles are inherent in the existing layout and use of our highway infrastructure. Existing road conditions and signs, for example, as well as the transition phase in which some drivers on the road will use autonomous vehicles and others, will use traditional vehicles, might all provide substantial challenges to the adoption of self-driving cars.
Road conditions
Road conditions can be exceedingly variable and vary from location to location. There are smooth and well-marked wide roadways in certain situations. In other areas, the road is severely eroded, with no lane markings. Lanes are not well defined, there are potholes, hilly and tunnel routes with unclear external cues for orientation, and so forth.
Weather conditions
Another stumbling block is the weather. The weather might be bright and clear or wet and stormy. Autonomous vehicles should be able to operate in any weather situations. There is no possibility of failure or downtime.
Traffic conditions
Autonomous vehicles would have to enter the road and drive under a variety of traffic scenarios. They would have to share the road with other autonomous vehicles as well as a large number of humans. There are a lot of emotions involved whenever people are involved. The flow of traffic might be greatly monitored and self-regulated. However, there are times when someone may be breaching driving laws. An item may appear in unforeseen circumstances. Even a few centimeters per minute of movement matters in tight traffic. One cannot wait indefinitely for traffic to clear and for some prerequisite to begin moving. If there are more of these automobiles on the road waiting for traffic to move, it might lead to a heavy traffic.
Accident Liability
Accident liability is the most significant feature of self-driving automobiles. In the case of self-driving automobiles, the software will be the primary component that will operate the vehicle and make all critical choices. While the earliest concepts had a human physically stationed behind the steering wheel. Furthermore, owing to the nature of autonomous vehicles, the occupants will be primarily relaxed and may not be paying careful attention to road conditions. In instances where their attention is required, it may be too late to act by the time they need to.
Radar Interference
Lasers and radar are used for navigation in self-driving automobiles. The lasers are installed on the roof, while the sensors are located on the vehicle’s body. Radar operates by detecting radio wave reflections from nearby objects. When a car is on the road, it emits radio frequency waves that are reflected by other automobiles and things in the vicinity. The time required for the reflection is calculated to determine the distance between the automobile and the object. Based on the radar data, appropriate action is subsequently performed. Radar operates by detecting radio wave reflections from nearby objects. When a car is on the road, it emits radio frequency waves that are reflected by other automobiles and things in the vicinity. The time required for the reflection is calculated to determine the distance between the automobile and the object. Based on the radar data, appropriate action is subsequently performed. Will a car be able to discern between its own (reflected) signal and the signal (reflected or transmitted) from another vehicle when this technology is utilized for hundreds of cars on the road? Even if numerous radio frequencies are available for radar, it is doubtful that this frequency range would be insufficient for all cars made.
What are your thoughts on the self-driven cars?
Are they going to become the reality?
References:
https://www.johndaylegal.com/potential-problems.html
https://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11447838/self-driving-cars-challenges-obstacles
https://www.livescience.com/50841-future-of-driverless-cars.html
In my opinion, Computers based on advanced systems and algorithms will dramatically reduce human error, especially accidents related to drunk or distracted driving, and it will have a huge positive impact on humans. But I don’t think it will ever happen because robot drivers simply cannot assess situations and make decisions as quickly as human drivers can while driving, especially for any externalities that are not planned to happen in the road. In addition to humans not being ready to trust a robot with their life.
I would add that another significant obstacle in the way of self-driving cars is insurance. Who will be to blame? Does this have an impact on insurance? What’s the process of liability? Again, this necessitates rewriting a system for a problem that it was never intended to handle.
It will take time for all of this to happen, and in the meantime there is a lot of uncertainty. Investors enjoy having predictability, and they desire assurance that the regulatory and insurance environments will be favorable. They don’t want to spend countless millions on creating a system that the government and insurance industry will make impossible to use.
From my perspective, our society is not ready for it to happen yet. How can we train AI and trust it to make moral decisions in case of a car accident if they are not universal? If we do not know which one is right by ourselves? Nevertheless, driverless car technology is the only way we could eliminate the main source of car accidents, namely human error. This means it is the only way we could improve traffic safety in the future.