Prompt 7: Contemplating Controversy

By: Grattan R.

Back when the world was first shown the concept of an autonomous car, people scoffed and laughed in the faces of those who envisioned the futuristic idea. Recently, with the boom of autonomous vehicles from companies like Tesla, Audi, and google, to name the most popular, the autonomous car is becoming a reality whether we want it or not.

Now for some background information. The Tesla P85 D has an adaptive autonomous system that uses 12 built in sensors on the exterior of the car as well as GPS positioning, ultrasonic sensors, and radar to control the car on the highway. The Tesla can change lanes, adjust speed, and even stop and go in traffic. While Tesla does not endorse and actually tells its users to refrain from use of the P85 D’s autonomous functions on roads that are not highways, some people have tried it still. Videos on the internet can be found of people using the car on public roads, and the car follows curves, changes lanes, and even will prevent accidents. However, other accounts have showed the car swerving into other lanes, and this is why Tesla does not endorse use on non-highway roads. Speaking of preventing accidents, one user’s car actually stopped point blank preventing a possible fatal accident from an error of another driver cutting through traffic. The Audi RS 7 is autonomous up to 40 mph in freeway conditions. The RS 7 was also tested driverless at race speeds at Hockenheim Grand Prix track, and took only 2 minutes to complete a lap (the world record is one minute 47 seconds). The Audi, similar to the Tesla P85 D, uses sensors and cameras. While similar to the other two, the Google autonomous car relies on GPS and sensors alike. The google autonomous car has been tested thoroughly in controlled environments and is the most advanced of the autonomous cars, because it can drive on city streets, not just the highway.

Onto the topic of controversy. Many people are in deep conflict over the idea of a car that drives itself. How can a machine react as fast as a human? How can a machine make split second decisions? How could a machine expect the unexpected? The questions go on. A popular argument is how autonomous cars can remove the possibility for human error. For example, if you fall asleep at the seat of a Tesla, the car will continue driving keeping the distance you specified in-between it and the car in front of it. If you fell asleep in the seat of a regular car, you are likely to get into a fatal accident. Another example, say a driver simply forgets to check their blind spot on the highway at 80 mph, a slight sideswipe to another car and a massive accident could be caused.

Arguments against the autonomous car are mostly surrounding the advancement of the destined laziness of the world, machine error, and inability to calculate for split second reactions or situations which simply cannot be comprehended by a computer. In comparison, an autonomous car is plenty more complicated than a typical car, and everyone knows the more complex something is the more things can go wrong. Say a sensor on an autonomous car goes out and the car swerves in the opposite direction because it thinks something is too close to it, or for instance a digital map is incorrect and the car turns into a barrier, the consequences could be fatal. Some situations may be too complex for the computer systems in an autonomous car to analyze and act on, maybe a person runs into the street and is not enough for an optical sensor to detect and someone ends up in the hospital or another with a case of manslaughter (for an extreme case). While these cars still do have brake pedals, inattention by drivers is still an issue.

Ultimately the autonomous car is coming whether it is wanted or not and the technology for it is advancing at an astonishing rate. The autonomous car may be the way of the future, or maybe humanity will decide machines cannot phase out human reflexes. How you feel is up to you to decide. 

Sources Cited

“Model S Software Version 7.0”. Tesla.com. Tesla Motors. Web. 7 February 2016.

“Piloted Driving”. AudiUSA.com. Audi of America. Web. 7 February 2016.

“Google Self-Driving Car Project”. Google.com. Google Inc. Web. 7 February 2016.

Picture and Video Credits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X-5fKzmy38

http://s3.caradvice.com.au/thumb/770/382/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-Tesla-Model-S-P85D-v-2015-Audi-RS7-22.jpg