Automation: some may see it as usurping and displacing
humans or creating increasingly impersonal systems. When we look at automation
and robotics applications, we need to consider the benefits they can afford us.
Consider human limitations; we can be clumsy, inattentive, we can become
fatigued. Even at our best, humans simply cannot reach the level of precision
that an automated system can achieve, nor the speed at which it can carry it
out, nor the endurance to carry out the task quite as long as a fully robotic
system could. Indeed, there are many products and services that could not be
possible without such levels of precision or the capabilities to output them
for such cheap manufacturing costs. Even if humans could achieve the precision
to manufacture the parts that go into a smartphone, for example, the effort
that would need to go into building each one would mean the phones would cost a
fortune.
Self-driving cars have been a topic of discussion in this
field for many years. Such a system would allow passengers to put in their
destination and have their cars take them there, no drivers, just passengers.
In probably one of the better known implementations, Google has been testing
their self-driving vehicle system for quite some time, having clocked over
400,000 miles on California public roads, reportedly with only a small handful
of car accidents, very usually with human drivers to blame. This could be a
very good indicator of the benefits that a self-driving vehicle system could
offer. A new study shows that self-driving cars can do such a good job, that,
should they be implemented, there could be a massively dramatic reduction in
car accidents and traffic deaths.
“If 90 percent of vehicles
were self-driving, as many as 21,700 lives per year could be saved, and
economic and other benefits could reach a staggering $447 billion, said
the study.” Even 10 percent, the article claims, could reduce traffic deaths by
1000 per year. Speeding, aggressive driving, over-compensation, inexperience,
slow reaction times, inattention and various other human driver shortcomings
are responsible for a majority of automobile accidents. Automated systems could
eliminate many of these problems, and thus, increase safety. There would also
need to be some other new considerations. Safety standards would need to implemented,
for example, and many safety fallbacks installed in the systems to prevent
error and failures in the automated systems. While the system may offer drivers
the ability to work on laptops, or eat meals, it would likely be better to have
them keep some level of attentiveness on the vehicle, and some level of control
in case something goes wrong.
Of course, any system so
advanced at this point in the history of human technological advancement would be
very costly to implement, perhaps at $100,000 per vehicle. As more advances are
made, and the value they could pose to preventing traffic accidents and deaths,
self-driving vehicles could see much more implementation over time. The system
could also allow for much greater planning on a higher level than individual
drivers could consider. Automated systems could plan out routes for any number
of drivers, greatly increasing traffic flow, which would help reduce
fuel-consumption and travel time as well, with less stop-and-go heavy traffic
jams.
Besides keeping in mind safety features to insure that system failures are efficiently dealt with, we need to keep in mind how this will be implemented in society.
ReplyDeleteIn class, we talked about the transition that would occur between computer-automated cars to manually driven cars. How would this transition occur? Would there be benefits for those who switch over? And further in the future how would we teach people to drive? Would we simply teach them how to operated the automated car or how to actually drive a car should the system fail?
In addition, how would this affect people who refuse to make the transition? Most likely government would not get involved in citizens making this transition. While certain standards may be imposed, the biggest influence in this transition would be insurance companies or car companies trying to promote the cars, both as economically beneficial in terms of insurance policies and, perhaps, as mileage and gas prices.