Autonomous car on the road!
For most, every time you open a web browser, the first thing you do is Google something. For the past 17 years, Google has been involved in search engine innovation, productivity software, and social media. Google’s latest effort is the creation of the autonomous car. Some people are enthusiastic about the idea and others are not so confident in it.
Since its announcement in 2012, the autonomous car has been a hot topic among drivers and pedestrians alike. One of the ideas behind this creation is to eliminate the human error factor related to car accidents; another is to give people the opportunity to be more productive while traveling. Recently, Google and Ford Motor Company agreed to work together on this project and have successfully used an autonomous car to navigate the snowy streets of the northern United States.
Yet what does all this mean for the rest of the United States? There are reportedly more than 200,000 car accidents in the southern states each year and, as a result, there are more than 6,000 deaths per year. If the tests continue to be successful, the United States can hope to avoid maneuvering a vehicle during inclement weather, which is also a huge contributor to car accidents and fatalities. Another positive idea is that much older citizens can still maintain their independence even if they lose the ability to drive actively.
Some negative comments and concerns about the autonomous car include people who don’t think they can really trust the technology to work properly 100% of the time, which can lead to a car accident. Other concerns include that driving software that stores personal data could be a privacy violation, another is how the car can navigate itself through detours, and other things that could affect the route taken. Is the autonomous car as safe as the testers claim? Many skeptics raise the question whether after the implementation of these vehicles, will driver education still be necessary and will there be classes to learn how to use the autonomous car?
Whatever the opinion on this matter, only time will tell the result. The autonomous car is projected to be part of our lives by 2020, hopefully by then this new vehicle can be better understood, save lives, and help prevent traffic accidents. Contact a car accident attorney for help.
