What if the number one cause of death disappeared forever? That's where self-driving Uber cars come into play. Self-driving Uber cars are pretty self explanatory. These cars are able to drive without humans controlling it. Although, when operating, a self-driving Uber car is required to have safety drivers in the front that know how to take control of the car in case of emergency. Sebastian Thrun was the inventor of the self-driving Google cars. He agreed to help the co-founder of Uber, Travis Kalanick, create self-driving Uber cars. Self-driving Uber cars are currently being tested in many different states but are not on the market yet to buy because of safety regulations. Cars are already driving themselves in California, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Although they are still restricted to specific driving areas and conditions, at some point in the future these cars will be all around us. These self-driving Uber cars are still being tested in Tempe, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, California, and Texas. There is a need for self-driving cars because every day people get into accidents, there is a shortage of parking, and there is traffic congestion. According to https://www.uber.com/blog/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-self-driving-uber/, the mission of self-driving Uber cars is, “Reducing the number of traffic accidents, which today kill 1.3 million people a year; freeing up the 20 percent of space in cities currently used to park the world’s billion plus cars; and cutting congestion, which wastes trillions of hours every year.”
Since motor vehicle accidents kill so many people every year, self-driving cars came about to reduce these fatalities and unnecessary deaths. In my opinion, Sebastian Thrun agreed to help Travis Kalanick, the co-founder of Uber cars, make self-driving Uber cars because he believed that self-driving cars could help prevent car accidents and help the death rate go down. According to https://www.uber.com/blog/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-self-driving-uber/, it states that, “We know that self-driving Ubers have enormous potential to further our mission and improve society: reducing the number of traffic accidents, which today kill 1.3 million people a year.” That is roughly 3,287 people every day. So Kalanick figured that by creating self driving Uber cars it would help reduce the number of people who die every year. As shown in http://time.com/4729931/uber-self-driving-cars 2017/http://time.com/4729931/uber self-driving-cars-2017/, "Such sentiment may seem like denying the inevitable. But self-driving vehicles indeed have their limitations. Bad weather, for instance, remains a roadblock. That means they might be fine in sunny San Diego, but less useful in snowy Buffalo.” Self-driving Uber cars are tested and designed in the western part of the United States because of the accidents that happen so frequently there. Another reason that they may have gained popularity in the western United States is because the weather there is pretty consistent so they don’t have to worry about winter weather affecting the self-driving Uber cars. I feel that this innovation is important to our global community because it will help us to have a safer community. As said in https://www.huffingtonpost.com/aj-agrawal/will-self-driving-cars ca_b_10468936.html,“Self-driving cars are anticipated to reduce the frequency of accidents on the roads, including fatal crashes. A study conducted by KPMG and the Center for Automotive Research predicted that test results show that 93-percent of accidents are due to human error." We all know that when we have an alert go off on our phones we want to look at it. It is just our instinct to check our phones. So by having self-driving Uber cars it will help make it so that when you're going somewhere you can check your phone or search for directions without having to worry about hitting someone and harming yourself or other people. You also won’t be breaking the law anymore. These cars will really help us to reduce the number of people that die every year in car accidents. According to, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/aj-agrawal/will-self-driving-cars-ca_b_10468936.html, “Even in a self-driving vehicle, you can still be charged with driving under the influence (DUI). The answer is quite simple, regardless of what is powering the vehicle, you are still behind the wheel.” Even though these cars are self operated you still won’t be allowed to drink because you are still behind the wheel and that is the law. The reason being is in case you have to take control of the car in case of emergency, you can't be under the influence. A self-driving Uber car is one of the smartest things someone could have invented. By having these self-driving cars it will allow us to do things while driving. Although, according to https://www.huffingtonpost.com/aj-agrawal/will-self-driving-cars-ca_b_10468936.html, “A concern is that technology will not drive itself safely. This does not always mean that it is a safe setup. Technology can lag due to lack of Wi-Fi signal, inclement weather, or just being in a more rural area.” If you need to grab something out of your bag on the seat next to you these cars will allow you to do just that. The cars are programmed to drive you to the destination you enter in the car. So all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride. As said in https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/13/16453926/self-driving-car-us-cities-uber-traffic-collisio, “Autonomous cars will completely change our cities if local officials plan accordingly, if cities re-invest in building robust transit networks, and if the technology works exactly as these companies promise.” Yes, all the quirks and everything haven’t been fixed but engineers are working to get there so that these cars one day will be safe enough to drive on the road without having to worry about it going out of control or causing harm to yourself or other people around you. So self-driving cars are definitely one day going to change the world for the better. Self-driving cars will one day soon revolutionize the world we live in today just like when the famous renaissance man, Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity. Issac Newton's discovery made scientists rethink the way they looked at the world and their religion, and similarly self-driving cars will one day change the way people feel about driving. Once everyone is used to self-driving cars doing it for them and taking them where they need to go, no one will want to be behind the wheel again.
MLA CITATION:
- Hawkins, Andrew J. “Autonomous Cars without Human Drivers Will Be Allowed on California Roads Starting next Year.” The Verge, The Verge, 11 Oct. 2017, www.theverge.com/2017/10/11/16458850/self-driving-car-california-dmv-regulations.
- Bhuiyan, Johana. “Inside Uber's Self-Driving Car Mess.” Recode, Recode, 24 Mar. 2017, www.recode.net/2017/3/24/14737438/uber-self-driving-turmoil-otto-travis-kalanick-civil-war.
- Hawkins, Andrew J. “Uber's Self-Driving Cars Are Now Picking up Passengers in Arizona.”The Verge, The Verge, 21 Feb. 2017, www.theverge.com/2017/2/21/14687346/uber-self-driving-car-arizona-pilot-ducey-california.
- Bhuiyan, Johana. “Uber Has Resumed Tests of Its Self-Driving Cars after an Arizona Crash.”Recode, Recode, 27 Mar. 2017, www.recode.net/2017/3/27/15077386/uber-self-driving-autonomous-cars-resume-testing-crash-collision-arizona.
- “Forecasts.” Driverless Car Market Watch, www.driverless-future.com/?page_id=384.
- Tannert, Chuck. “Will You Ever Be Able To Afford A Self-Driving Car?” Fast Company, Fast Company, 3 Feb. 2014, www.fastcompany.com/3025722/will-you-ever-be-able-to-afford-a-self-driving-car.
- “Here's How Much a Self-Driving Uber Ride Will Cost.” Break into Tech, www.breakinto.tech/blog/2016/10/20/heres-how-much-a-self-driving-uber-ride-will-cost.
- “Uber Drivers Say They're Not Worried About Self-Driving Cars.” Time, Time, time.com/4729931/uber-self-driving-cars-2017/.“Uber Drivers Say They're Not Worried About Self-Driving Cars.” Time, Time, time.com/4729931/uber-self-driving-cars-2017/.
- Hawkins, Andrew J. “Self-Driving Cars Are on a Collision Course with Our Crappy Cities.”The Verge, The Verge, 13 Oct. 2017, www.theverge.com/2017/10/13/16453926/self-driving-car-us-cities-uber-traffic-collision.
- Kessler, Sarah. “A Timeline of When Self-Driving Cars Will Be on the Road, According to the People Making Them.” Quartz, Quartz, 29 Mar. 2017, https://qz.com/943899/a-timeline-of-when-self-driving-cars-will-be-on-the-road-according-to-the-people-making-them/
- Chafkin, Max. “Uber's First Self-Driving Fleet Arrives in Pittsburgh This Month.”Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 18 Aug. 2016, www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-08-18/uber-s-first-self-driving-fleet-arrives-in-pittsburgh-this-month-is06r7on.
- LeFebvre, Rob. “Pittsburgh Is Falling out of Love with Uber's Self-Driving Cars.” Engadget, 22 May 2017, www.engadget.com/2017/05/22/pittsburgh-out-of-love-with-uber/.
- Bhuiyan, Johana. “Uber's Autonomous Cars Drove 20,354 Miles and Had to Be Taken over at Every Mile, According to Documents.” Recode, Recode, 16 Mar. 2017, www.recode.net/2017/3/16/14938116/uber-travis-kalanick-self-driving-internal-metrics-slow-progress.
- “Road Crash Statistics.” ASIRT, asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics.
- Agrawal, AJ. “Will Self-Driving Cars Cause More or Less Accidents?” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 June 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/aj-agrawal/will-self-driving-cars-ca_b_10468936.html.
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ReplyDeleteDo you think that there will ever be a day that the government in the US requires autonomous cars? Because if it is true that 93% of car accidents are human error then traditional cars could eventually be labeled as a public health concern.
ReplyDeleteI think eventually when these self-driving cars are being produced and are available to all people everywhere that the US may require autonomous cars but because engineers haven't worked out all the quirks and problems with these cars yet that it isn't easy to tell if they will require these cars everywhere or not. Yes it is true that 93% of car accidents are due to our human errors so it definitely is a huge problem that one day could be fixed by these self-driving cars.
DeleteAccording to https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliviergarret/2017/03/03/10-million-self-driving-cars-will-hit-the-road-by-2020-heres-how-to-profit/#6115fcb77e50, it states that, "Given the recent improvements in safety, it will only be a matter of time before the manual driving of cars is outlawed, outside of hobby clubs and race tracks." This answers your question of will self driving cars be required by the government because it says that they will be outlawed in the future meaning that one day in the future when these self-driving Uber cars come about everyone will have one making people want to get rid of their cars they have to control manually. So eventually in the future the government could require self driving cars to make our world and society a safer place to live in.
DeleteI loved how you put in a video and a picture in your blog so we can really see what it looks like.When do you think they will spread beyond Arizona, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, California, and Texas? Do you think that these self driving cars will be better or worse for the environment then an average car? Will this run on more gas then an average car or more? When do you think we will see self driving cars all around us?
ReplyDeleteAs of now the self-driving Uber cars can not be expanded past Arizona, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, California, and Texas because of climate change and safety regulations. This self-driving Uber cars have been said to be able to cut down on fuel use and pollution because they will be driving more efficiently than the cars we have now. According to https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-04-18/driverless-cars-could-either-be-scary-or-great-environment, it states that, "Self-driving cars could cut gas assumption by a huge amount, up to 90%." This will be good for our ozone layer because the deadly fossil fuels that come from cars burning gas will hopefully be cut down in the future. Self driving cars are already around us just not on the east coast. But over on the west coast self-driving Uber cars are all around them.
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