Imagine waking up in the morning, getting ready to go to work, getting into your car and finishing up that report as you sit in morning traffic.
Some automakers and consumers think moments like these will become quite common; autonomous technology in cars is becoming more of a reality, and their dreams just may come true … but is the technology ready?
Cars driving themselves seems like one of those things you see in movies like “iRobot” or “Bladerunner:” It’s a really cool idea, but it might not be something we can achieve during our lifetimes.
Not quite. Technically, autonomous driving has been around since early this year.
Tesla Motors, a California-based company that focuses on electric cars and other technologies, introduced an update for its vehicles called “Autopilot,” which allows the cars to operate semi-autonomously. A person’s Tesla can’t just drive them everywhere they want, but it can be used during calm highway cruising or light traffic. The system steers using sensors and GPS to keep the car within lanes or away from other cars, and it is able to drive at the speed limit.
As cool as that sounds, the software isn’t perfect. Last June, Tesla’s Autopilot was linked to an accident-related death in Florida. Due to human and computer error, the car, while operating in Autopilot mode, crashed into a big rig trailer, resulting in the unfortunate death of the driver. After the accident occurred, Tesla disabled all Autopilot features in its vehicles until just recently.
This tragic accident leads to my previous question: Is the technology for autonomous driving ready to be released to consumers?
Various car companies are currently developing and testing their own driverless cars for consumers. Ford promises to have a fully self-sufficient car by 2020; Lexus has been seen testing an autonomous crossover SUV; even Google and Apple have been getting in on the self-driving car game. It’s great that there’s a competition to create the first self-driving car that works realistically, but there have been numerous reports of minor crashes and accidents caused by these tests.
“I honestly think the only way to make autonomous vehicles a reality is to make every single vehicle on the road autonomous,” freshman computer information systems major Bryan Endres said. “On one side of the equation, we can see that [autonomous cars] will never be perfect, but on the other side, we can see potential for some major improvements.”
Despite all of the speculations around autonomous cars, I think the technology would be quite useful, especially for those with some disabilities (or those who are just lazy). Even though I’m not so sure that the technology is ready to be placed in consumers’ hands, when the time comes, I think it’ll improve the lives of many.
