Hampton Lesemann

Professor P

English 102

6 April 2017

Are Humans More Safe Than Machines?

Driving a vehicle is a staple around the world enjoyed by some and dreaded by others.

With over a billion cars on the road there are very large and wealthy corporations leading the

technology industry. From over 130 years ago we have gone from a top speed of 10 miles an

hour to an unreal 270, but one major thing stays the same: you have to drive. It sounds very

simple, but this is exactly what those corporations were thinking and now solving. There are

major complications with autonomous cars including liability as well as simply the ability for

humans to trust technology with their lives. Many manufacturers already have semi-autonomous

cars out today but some are skipping that because it includes the hardest issue to solve: humans

are not good backup plans. You may assume that we would not need to intervene often, but last

year a Tesla vehicle malfunctioned autonomously every 3 hours in California according to the

DMV proving reliable human interaction in vital. This data combined with a few fatalities shows

that truthfully we are not ready yet, and begs the question is it right for us to have these machines

in the publics hands already? The difference in the way we drive cars of today and cars of the

past have always greatly improved, but this is the first time it is very possibly deteriorating.

Should corporations be allowed to release autonomous systems before we have these basic,

although complicated, issues figured out? Will autonomous cars be worth the trouble now,

instead of waiting on better technology to proceed?

 Last year in January the Obama Administration changed their approach on self-driving

cars completely. Before then it was all up to automakers to fund research and development of

safe autonomous cars around guidelines, but this approach was already taking too long. To speed

things along the Obama Administration pledged to invest $4 billion and to remove hurdles to

develop autonomous vehicles and set further guidelines for them within 6 months. Removing

hurdles entails that they will do the best they can to find a solution to the multiple guidelines that

have been holding back companies, because these guidelines were under-developed and too

strict. The Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx stated they would use the $4 billion over the

next 10 years for research projects and infrastructure improvements that would aid driverless

cars. This includes work on roads to ease driverless cars environment, and in turn increase

traffic. Mr. Foxx stated that:

as many as 25,000 deaths could have been avoided last year if driverless technology
had been in widespread use. Manufacturers including Google and General Motors agree and
welcome the proposal, believing that a partnership between car makers and regulators is crucial
to get this done right and done safely.

The government already allowed 2,500 autonomous vehicles to deploy through an independent

company for a two year period, and this shows that we are on the fast track. This article shows

throughout that there is a large effort being put into this industry and is widespread throughout

the world, and only means that it is a matter of time. It states how many have vowed to have

autonomous vehicles on the production line in the next 10 years, but now with guidance from

regulators it is only going to speed up.

The most critical issue for automakers is disengagement. This means that when an

autonomous vehicle fails or is limited the autonomous mode disengages. In turn, the driver must

be aware, quick enough to react, and react in the exact manner needed all within seconds. TEDx
published a Ted Talk by Tyron Louw that brought very interesting points to light. Louw studies

human interactions and reactions, and without a doubt this has a great deal to do with self driving

cars. Mr. Louw had a great analogy about the feeling of when you wake up in a hotel room and

feel as if you are lost and dont know where you are, and compares that to as if you were writing

a paper while your car is driving you to work and all of the sudden there are sounds and lights

going off and you must intervene. The reality is that when that happens chances are you are

going to make the wrong decision, because you are simply unaware of what is going on and what

you need to be doing to fix it. There has been experiments with talented racecar drivers who have

reaction times of milliseconds, and they were still unable to make the correct decision after they

were distracted, This problem will hold back the autonomous industry until the very end, or

beginning for that matter.

Also in this Ted Talk Mr.Louw mentions a story from when he was in Africa. He

witnessed a large van packed with men, women, and children to the rim. It was violently

swerving and dodging vehicles as it swerved into the opposite lane. It over-corrected, flipped,

and landed in a ditch and sadly 13 people died. This tragic scene influenced Mr. Louw and he

stresses that if we had autonomous systems in place this could have been avoided. Elon Musk

owner of Tesla, the largest autonomous/electric vehicle company to date, is on the way to being

the first to solve this issue. He already has cars out that can stay in their lane by themselves, and

follow the car ahead accelerating and stopping when needed. This is great, but in Japan a trash

truck backed out of a road and a tesla was in auto-mode and did not see the back of the truck

because the tires had not reached the road yet. The back of the truck went through the windshield

and killed the driver, and the brakes were not applied once. This shows that we still have issues,
and Mr. Musk is stating that we will have cars driving themselves completely by 2021, and the

cars will be the ones he has already sold because they will only need a simple over-the-air

update. Is this the appropriate way to approach something of this magnitude?

Works Cited

Walia, Arjan. "Why Elon Musk Is Advocating For Brain Chipping The Human Race."

Collective Evolution. N.p., 10 June 2016. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.

TEDxTalks. "Are we ready for the self-driving car? | Tyron Louw | TEDxUniversityofLeeds."

YouTube. YouTube, 28 Feb. 2016. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.

"Driverless Car of the Future (1957)." Paleofuture - Paleofuture Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb.

2017.