As time goes by, technological advancements in many things such as mobile phones, computers, and automobiles also progresses. One example of them is the so-called autonomous cars or self-driving vehicles as others would like to call them. There is no doubt that people would soon see a rise in its numbers in every country in the world including the Philippines. Toyota Altis and other models would then be replaced by these new innovations.
However, it is never right to just blindly accept the changes technology present to you. Be informed. Here are the pros and cons of self-driving cars.
Pros: Computers are Ideal Motorists
Did you know that a total 81% of the road accidents are a result of human error? You read that right; drivers with bad behaviours or even those that get easily distracted often are the root cause of a number of accidents happening on the roads today.
Autonomous cars use computers to control the vehicle. They use a set of complicated algorithms to ensure the distance they should stop in order to prevent accidents from happening. Self-driving automobiles can ultimately lessen the number of road accidents that are currently happening.
Cons: Potential for Glitches to Emerge
Technology, much like humans, is not perfect. It may be hard to believe this but this has been proven time and again by some of the technological advancements the world has seen so far (i.e. exploding mobile phones). Therefore, it is not unlikely for autonomous vehicles to have unforeseeable problem.
There is always a possibility for glitches to occur in the systems, especially since humans are still in control of the programming of these cars. Human error can still slip through along the way.
Pros: No Parking, No Problem
The lack of parking spaces in public areas can be a huge problem, especially if you live in a big city. However, this can be easily be addressed by self-driving cars in the future. Just imagine that you can just get out of your car and run your errands without having to waste your time finding a parking space.
The vehicle could simply drive around to wait for you until you are finished or until it finds a parking spot all on its own.
Cons: High Risk for Greater Pollution
At the moment, there are only a few autonomous vehicles that have been produced and if it turns out that most of them will not be hybrid models or at the very least fuel-efficient, then you may encounter a more polluted future.
No parking may turn out to be a problem after all since your vehicle will have a tendency to continuously run around until it finds a parking space.
Pros: A More Powerful Engine for Your Car
In the future, technicians would have the agency of rearranging the mechanical parts of your automobile since they do not exactly need a driver. This could later on lead to a more powerful and more capable engines to be used instead of the regular ones that are being used today.
Cons: Loss of Privacy may be Inevitable
They say that “with great power comes great responsibility” however, the information about who is going to be responsible for these self-driving cars remains in question. A number of companies may hire a third party that will be able to communicate and receive data from centres about your location but there is a potential for this decision to receive a huge backlash from the consumers.
The Guardian also reports that there is high risk for these systems to be open to computer hacks, which is always scary to think about.
It may take some time for this technology to fully develop, but it never hurts to be informed about them ahead of time.
