Are you ready to take your hands off the steering wheel during rush hour?
The automobile is nearly a hundred years old, and today we are experiencing the greatest manufacture recalls of anytime in its history. The question then is, “Are you ready for an autonomous car, and do you believe it will help save yours and other motorists’ lives, just asking?”
When actor Anton Yelchin tragically died on June 19 after his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee pinned him after having rolled backward, it appeared he had accidentally placed the gear in neutral rather than park. He was not alone. In April, Fiat Chrysler had issued a recall to fix the shifter because of its unintuitive design and now has found numerous other issues with the same system.
The 27-year-old Star Trek star’s death may have received the most coverage, but unfortunately, each year thousands of motorists are killed or injured due to recalled parts, mechanisms, and electronic systems. In 2014, one in every five vehicles was at risk of defect! With odds like these, it would make sense to focus our attention on perfecting what we’ve made in the past rather than introducing self-driving cars of the future.
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Yet we can’t seem to help ourselves any more than we can stop looking at our phones when we drive. Take a look around next time you’re speeding along at 60 mph on the interstate or come to a stoplight in your neighborhood. We’re all looking down!
Come on, you say, not everybody is glancing at his or her smartphone while driving; that’s an exaggeration. Perhaps, but the National Health and Safety Council’s most recent statistics, from a 2014 study, attributed 25 percent of all automobile accidents to cell phone use. A 2013 NHTSA study revealed drivers speak or text at least 10 percent of the time they are behind the wheel. Even more disturbing, 68 percent of young drivers, historically the most accident-prone demographic by far, are willing (and seemingly eager) to answer their phones when driving.
Unfortunately, we collectively assume technology will come to the rescue once again, this time in the form of the self-driving, autonomous, car. Soon, drivers will be able to forget about the distraction of driving and concentrate on social media, texting, or finally catching up on House of Cards.
As of July 1, seven state legislatures, and Florida’s governor, had issued executive orders authorizing the research and operation of autonomous vehicles, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020.
Though we should know better, we still assume new technologies will work better than old and, in the case of autonomous vehicles, will provide safer solutions. Not so fast, as the recent fatality involving a self-driving Tesla Model S suggests. Joshua Brown, who was killed in the collision with a turning semi, may have made the mistake that so many of us do: placing absolute trust in a system that has a history of recalls so long that parts can’t be manufactured quickly enough and believing that this new vehicle is ready to take on rush hour. Interestingly, the crash occurred in Florida, the state that claims pioneer status for self-driving vehicle approval.
Florida Governor Rick Scott, having signed a major transportation bill in April that permits the research of autonomous cars on public roads, is leading the charge in driverless car research.
“Florida was the second state to look at this and by far has taken a leadership role among the states,” said state Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg), a sponsor of the bill. “I think for right now, we’re evolving into this space, and whether it’s 2018 or 2025, we see that technology is coming online relatively quickly and it’s exciting.” Florida was the second state to look at this and by far has taken a leading role among the states.
Florida was the second state to look at this and by far has taken a leadership role among the states.
The autonomous car’s drive to prominence appears inevitable. Yet if technology, be it a light bulb or a car’s electrical system, has taught us anything, it is to proceed cautiously. It’s not that we should be concerned that our cars will develop minds of their own: it’s that their brains ultimately only function as well as our own do. Perhaps we should work on perfecting the drivetrain or doors before training our eyes on self-driving cars.