Autonomous Cars Gain Powerful Ally in The US Government

Featured article by Jeremy Sutter, Independent Technology Author

Americans lose $160 billion by being stuck in traffic every year. All of this will change, though, with the prospect of driverless cars.

Not only will these driverless cars save time and money, but proponents claim they will reduce accidents while allowing for a leisurely and productive commute. In this article, we’re going to take a look at these claims and in the process learn a little more about this new driverless car revolution that so many are talking about.

Federal government going to bat for driverless cars.

Federal auto safety regulators have made it clear with their new guidelines that there will be enhanced safety regulations in place for driverless cars. A series of statements were released that predicted a far safer system where driverless cars cut down on the loss of money, time, and lives.

Despite these strong statements, regulators will have to square this with reports of driverless, semi-autonomous cars getting into accidents. This has long been a thorn in the side of the automated car boom.

Federal regulators have so far walked the fine line between assuring the public that tough regulations will be put into place while also guaranteeing auto makers that they won’t be overregulated either.

The guidelines.

These guidelines include a 15-point safety assessment which will make driverless cars safer.

Things that have been considered so far have been the ethics of driverless cars, how a vehicle actually sees the road, privacy, crashworthiness, and an item many wouldn’t consider: vehicle cyber security.

Where there’s a computer system put in place, there exists the potential to hack that computer. If this is done remotely and made to affect a large number of vehicles, the consequences could be dire and immediate.

It behooves these automakers to develop strong security for each of their driverless cars. This will be kept in place by stringent federal regulations.

The government expects the automakers to present clear and honest information. This is not only done for them to meet safety standards but also to meet the standards of the public. Should faultiness lead to a public fiasco, the people will surely react by dropping and running en masse.

Consequences of implementation.

Just because there are plenty of benefits to driverless, semiautonomous cars does not mean that there aren’t drawbacks to them as well. For instance, a driverless car might be able to handle driving in one suburb or city but not in another.

There are different ways that semiautonomous cars perceive the road, and there could be a variety of things that could be questionable about their use. This can include how and why the cars brake, what they do in the case of an unavoidable collision, etc. This could also affect California auto insurance rates in the process.

Another consequence is the loss of millions of jobs that would come with automated cars. Those who are paid to drive are no doubt afraid of this latest development when it comes to driverless cars.

One of the positive aspects of driverless cars is that updates sent over the air could produce recalls instantaneously instead of dealing with how long it currently takes. Updates and upgrades would be as simple as sending them out to cars en masse.

There are a variety of positive aspects to the proliferation of driverless, semiautonomous cars just as there are definite drawbacks. As for now, the federal government seems to be embracing this development in technology while also putting in place a number of regulations that would keep the industry in check.

These regulations are definitely needed, as we’ve seen the consequences of driverless cars getting into accidents and not perceiving the road in the correct way. Time will tell just how driverless, semiautonomous cars will develop going into the future, but it really doesn’t seem as though this method of transport is going away anytime soon. We will see how this changes going into the future.