Are Self-Driving Cars Safe?

Have you ever fantasized about chilling in a car while the car drives itself? Or maybe you don’t know how to drive, so you daydream about self-driving cars? 

First of all, let’s look at what exactly a self-driving car is. A self-driving car is a vehicle that can sense its environment and operate on its own without any need for humans to take control. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) defines six levels of driving automation. Level 0 being “No Automation” or the one that requires full manual control. Level 1 is “Driver’s Assistance” where the vehicle features a single automated feature like speed monitoring. Level 2 is “Partial Automation” in which the vehicle can perform steering and acceleration. Humans can still take over. Level 3 is “Conditional Automation” wherein the vehicle can perform all tasks but human override is still required. Level 4 is of high automation where the vehicle performs all the tasks under specific circumstances and geofencing is still required. The last is level 5 which is “full automation” where the vehicle does all tasks under all conditions and zero human attention/interaction is required.

Before moving onto the part of safety let’s see how autonomous cars work. Autonomous cars use sensors, actuators, complex algorithms, machine learning systems, and powerful processors to function. The car creates and maintains a map of its surroundings. Radar sensors present in the car monitor the position of nearby vehicles; video cameras detect traffic lights, read road signals, track other vehicles and look for pedestrians; Lidar sensor measures distance, detects road edges, and identifies lane markings and the ultrasonic sensors in the wheels detect curbs and other vehicles while parking. The software processes the information and sends the instructions to the car’s actuators which control steering acceleration and braking. 

Now the main point, are these self-driving cars safe? We have been trusting technology all our lives, be it gadgets like smartphones, computers, or vehicles like cars or airplanes. So most definitely we can trust self-driving cars too. The accidents take place in traditional cars as well, so, our question should be whether self-driving cars are safer than traditional cars. The answer to this question would be yes if self-driving cars make fewer accidents than traditional ones. According to research published by the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 94% of all car crashes that occurred between 2005-2007 were a result of driver error. According to the data, there have been 13 minor accidents in 1.8 Million miles of driving in the Google autonomous project, which too, they say weren’t the car’s fault. Even if self-driving cars are 10% safer, they could prevent a lot of accidents. And looking at the convenience self-driving cars would provide, it’s worth it.

The elderly people and the physically disabled people would be able to live the life of their wish. Humans can get distracted while driving but the sensors in the automated cars would be working all the time reducing accidents. These cars would also reduce traffic jams which will save tons of time. And not only convenience is the benefit, but there are also environmental benefits too, there would be a lot less CO² emission. 

I believe these self-driving cars could bring about a great change. Fewer accidents, less stress, more time! Though it’s still a long way to go department am excited to see the world full of “Self-driving” cars.