03-08-2022
This seems like something that’s far off into the future, but self-driving cars are a lot closer to our reality than you think. As we speak, major tech companies are making huge developments in automated vehicles and there is now a lot of leeway they can work in thanks to all the advancements in technology.
But what does that mean for us as individuals who have absolutely no problem driving cars ourselves, without the help of artificial intelligence? How do we benefit from this? Self-driving cars are a lot more than a gimmick, if that’s what you thought of them as. They can be a lot more useful to us than simply being utilized as tech demos and then stored under a car protective cover to collect dust.
Self-driving cars can offer a lot of benefits to our society and as we move forward into a more automated future, we can expect to see many of these advantages play some sort of role in our lives.
Better Driving Etiquette
Most of the time, the biggest problems on the road, from car crashes to traffic arise from the incompetence of a handful of drivers. Many people simply want to drive to work or home and don’t mind following traffic laws. But some people think they’re living on the edge and want to see just how far they can push the law to its limits.
Whether it’s speeding, tailgating, cutting through several lanes without blinkers, making incorrect turns and so on, it’s these drivers that cause pretty much any problem that you encounter on the road.
With automated cars, these drivers won’t get a chance to cause any trouble on the road. This in turn not only means that our roads will work efficiently, but it also means we’ll be saving lives from potentially fatal car accidents and crashes.
Less Traffic
If you hate sitting in traffic for hours on end, this may seem like it would be impossible. But as stated above, many of the problems we encounter on the road, especially traffic, are the result of a few negligent drivers who did not follow the law. Since self-driving cars are programmed not to break the laws of traffic, this means there won’t be an accident caused by the breaking of rules, and so there will be significantly less traffic.
So not only will self-driving cars be saving lives from fatal car accidents, but they will also makes our road network much more efficient and clean up all the congestion that’s plaguing big cities today all across the world.
This means you’ll be spending more time actually moving on the road and won’t have to bring out your auto cover as you wait for the traffic to thin out for several hours.
Smaller Carbon Footprint
Vehicles are one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions today. Just the metric ton of cars that are driven on a daily basis are enough to cause a lot of harm to our environment.
And most of these emissions happen because so many people are stuck in traffic, with their engines running for hours, even though they barely get to move. Not only is it dangerous to the environment, it’s also very dangerous to our health. The fumes caused by traffic and inefficient driving can greatly contribute to future environmental disasters. Some scientists may even argue that they pretty much already have.
But with less traffic on the road and with everyone being responsible thanks to automated driving, we can greatly decrease the emissions brought on by vehicles, until an easily producible and effective green fuel source is found to replace our current ones.
More Access
You may find driving to be of second nature by now, but there are many people out there who simply cannot drive. Not because they don’t want to learn it or they don’t own a car, but because they have some kind of disability keeping them from driving. And considering how important of a role cars play in our lives, it would mean the world for so many people in this world if they get a chance to own a self-driving vehicle.
Greater access is what we constantly strive for as technology improves. It’s not so much to simply make everyone’s lives easier, but rather to make sure that everyone has the same opportunities and privileges. And this can be accomplished with self-driving cars.
There are many people out there who are somewhat terrified by automation, but they don’t stop to consider how useful it is to many people across the world even today, when the technology is still in somewhat early stages. There’s really no better reason to put our focus on self-driving cars, than to know that we’re helping people out there who have never had a chance to drive before.
Car Longevity
Reckless driving leads to accidents, a lot of scrapes, bumps and dents, which are not just dangerous to the health of the driver, passengers and pedestrians, but even the lightest impacts, those that can barely be felt, can cause the vehicle a lot of damage. While this may not immediately impact the car’s performance, it will definitely contribute to undermining its longevity.
When you make a purchase, especially one that’s as expensive as a car, you want to make sure that it serves you for as long as possible. There are many ways you can do this, such as with an indoor car cover when it’s parked indoors or regularly taking it in for maintenance. But one way or another, human error will always lead to the slow destruction of our machinery, regardless of how good of a driver you may be.
Automated cars, on the other hand, which follow all the laws carefully, are much better at keeping the vehicle unscathed, ensuring that vehicles last for a longer period of time and won’t need to be fixed or outright replaced after a set of unlucky accidents. This itself has an advantage since it means that our cars will last longer and won’t need to be sent to a junkyard for decades.
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