Driverless Cars: A Supporters View
Given Googles largely publicised foray into the driverless car technology there has been a lot of good and bad press about the technologies of late. Then when Travis Kalanic openly stated that Uber will eventually replace all its drivers alarm bells start ringing for many people
My perception of driverless cars is one of widespread support. On average, I spend a likely low amount of time on the road, but when I do, it tends to be quite big commutes of around 350–400 mile round trips (ie. Sheffield to London, Sheffield to Bristol etc). The majority on highways so like many of you, I see quite a bad side to the human element of driving.
I see the following as benefits of driverless cars and hence why I, as a supporter, see them becoming a core part of society sooner than people think:
1. Trip Duration
Humans: Currently we as humans are burdened by our tiredness and boredom. Legally in the UK, professional drivers are only allowed to drive for 4 hours at a time.
Computer: A computer is only really bound by the energy/power it is being provided. If it had the resources, it would run all day and night. Whether there needs to be an element of human oversight remains to be seen, but to me that takes away the point of driverless cars. The potential then is that we have more frequent, faster and more efficient travel time
2. Trip Length/Harmonisation
Humans: As humans, we are bound by our own capabilities. For example, whilst we think we can handle a 1,000bhp supercar capable of 200mph plus the likelihood of us losing control and having an accident is quite great. Similarly, think of traffic lights. We stop at traffic lights even if no other cars are there… why if its safe can we not move forward? The answer is human error… we may not see that car coming at 50mph that would be on a collision course
Computer: Two elements mentioned there… a Computer, driving a computerised machine brings a whole new understanding. For example, my BMW knows when the car is skidding and so kicks in the ABS. It knows when I accelerate too hard and knows when I need to break heavily. It could even tell me when I’m drifting between lanes and even falling asleep! Eliminate the human from here and you have a generally synchronous system with little margin for error (ie. the human). Add in the ability to see far beyond the vehicle itself and make millions of predictions and you could POTENTIALLY eliminate the need for traffic lights etc
3. Distractions
Humans: As humans we are prone to distractions… the radio, eating, drinking, smartphones, other drivers, emotions, thoughts accidents (rubbernecking), alcohol… the list goes on. All of which pose a tremendous risk to ourselves and other drivers and causes a vast majority of accidents today
Computer: A fully networked computer network is programmed to serve a purpose. Quite intelligently too. The only potential ‘distraction’ is a system crash but in a world of resilient systems, I would hope the likes of Google are putting measures in place
4. Human Error
The above have all covered human error in some form or other. But a point against driverless cars in my view is that in order to be 100% effective, human interaction needs to be completely removed. Look at the article where a human crashed in to a driverless car… says it all really!
Summary
Although they get mixed views, I truly believe that driverless cars have a place in society. But obstacles over resilience need to be overcome. The human interaction in my view also needs to be considered to be eliminated if at all possible. However, with it comes loss of something great. I like driving (sometimes) and think the complete loss of ability to do so would be a really negative thing.
What are your views?
Stephen Baines is a Management Consultant and MBA student currently working for Hewlett-Packard and studying at Manchester Business School. The views within this post are explicitly those of Stephen and have no representation of any organisation Stephen represents. If you wish to contact Stephen, please contact him via LinkedIn or his Twitter handle (@baines1986)
