Autonomous Cars: Are They Safe Enough for Our Roads?
Autonomous cars are becoming more of a hot topic lately as technology advances, and more of these driverless cars are being put on our roads. The discussion on whether the Autonomous vehicles will make the streets riskier or safer is unending and inconclusive. In 2013, Caroline McDonald wrote an article about Risk Management on the advantages and risks associated with using driverless cars. Although the article is now five years old and technology has developed a lot since it was published, the benefits of autonomous vehicles remain the same, and most of the concerns are still valid, and unaddressed. From the article, we can conclude on whether driverless car technology is safe enough to be put on our roads and the various implications that arise in insuring them (McDonald, 2013).
The Introduction: From Sci-Fi Fantasy to Reality
The article begins its introduction with “Once a sci-fi fantasy, driverless cars are quickly becoming a reality” (McDonald, 2013, Para 1). Although this opening statement is short, it paints a picture of those old black and white commercials with robots, flying cars, and other Hi-Tech things past generations only imagined the future would bring. Caroline then states, “autonomous automobile test models have been on the road since 2009, so far driving hundreds of thousands of miles without an accident” (McDonald, 2013, Para 3). This statement leaves other writers and readers questioning her credibility and validity. Without any supportive citations, how can she make this claim?
The Startling Statistics: Deaths Caused by Motor Vehicle Accidents
The first paragraphs capture the attention of the reader as they introduce the statistics that relate to accidents caused by motor vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) “reports that 34,080 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2012-up 5.3% from the previous year 2011” (McDonald, 2013 Para 2). About 3,331 individuals died in accidents that were caused by drivers that were distracted in the year 2011, and another 387,000 individuals were seriously injured (McDonald, 2013, Para 3).
The Solution: Autonomous Cars as the Ultimate Safety Measure
These statistics can explain two factors correctly. In the first statistic, it is observed to be an upward trend of deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents. The second statistic creates the relationship between motor vehicle accidents and human error by pointing out how many drivers were distracted. The author has now established that there is a problem that requires a critical solution. The solution is autonomous cars. “Google says that driverless cars will dominate the roadways in the near future and that 90% of the 1.2 million global fatalities due to auto accidents could be evaded with driverless cars," as the National Insurance Practice leader with KPMG Laura J. Hay says (McDonald, 2013, Para 4). The author convincingly laid out safety as a significant advantage of driverless cars.
A Challenging Read: Choppiness and Information Overload
The article begins to look choppy, as the two to three sentence paragraphs make it hard for the audience to stay connected and follow throughout. For example, two quotes by Sen. Ball concurrently follow each other. “Vehicle accidents, year after year, always rank in the leading causes of death in New York state and across the United States” (McDonald, 2013 Para 4). The author, at some point in the article, seems to have forgotten that she is supposed to be connecting and allowing the audience to follow in the discussion. The author, however, incorporates too much statistics packaged in hard to read paragraphs down the audience’s throat all at once. Even in these hard to understand sections, however, it is quickly evident that there is much more to be gained from driverless cars.
Exploring the Risks: Hacking and Privacy Concerns
While a considerable part of the article was used to educate the audience on the advantages, the author uses the last few short paragraphs to list the cons and the risks. Lance J. Ewing, a group leader with AIG, observed that the problems involving autonomous cars “will include but not be limited to, hacking and cyber attack" (McDonald, 2013, Para 16). There, therefore, needs to be a solution as to how the privacy issues can be attended to. The biggest problem with using Lance’s statement as a source is that it is just an assumption. There is no evidence cited to back up exactly how hacking will affect driverless cars or how people’s privacy will be denied. Piracy is currently a problem in today's society and already has the potential to transform cars, driverless or not.
Insurance Companies and the Future of Premiums
Even though the self-driven cars would reduce the level of accidents on our roads, insurance companies will, in the long run, suffer from it. This is because as explained, it will be hard to know how much premiums would be worth once the cars are introduced into our roads. Not most people will consider insuring their vehicles as they are supposedly safer and cannot cause accidents on the streets. The author together with Lance J. Ewing concludes that “there may be collateral results from the driverless highways” (McDonald, 2013 Para 17).
The Conclusion: Risk on the Road is Inevitable
The article concludes with what can only be assumed as an "opposition" oddly placed at the end of the article. She says “There will always be some level of risk when a driver gets on the road” (McDonald, 2013 Para 18). The author started off with a sharp opening that connected with the reader but quickly became detached with her repetitious statistics and opposed her. The article's statistics though, as redundant as they were, provided an overwhelming amount of evidence in support of driverless cars.
Reference
McDonald, C. (2013, November). Driverless cars: a risky opportunity? Risk Management, 60(9), 6+. Retrieved from: http://link.galegroup.com.bakerezproxy.palnet.info/apps/doc/A350575246/AONE?u=lom_falconbaker"sid=AONE"xid=919eb418
