User:Awells104/sandbox

= Self-Driving Cars (Student Project) =

Introduction
In the past few years, there has been the introduction of this new invention that could revolutionize the automobile industry, and public life in general: self-driving cars. The implementation of this technology provides a slew of new possibilities and benefits, but does come with its own challenges. There are many concerns to look at with this new technology, such as the social problems that it faces, the legal and ethical questions that cloud its development, and the scary security concerns that could turn-off public interest in the tech.

How it works
There are many complicated technical terms an nuances that describe how this technology works, so to keep things simple, the best way describe how this technology works is to look at 4 different parts: the algorithm, RADAR, LIDAR, and GPS technologies. The algorithm is the 'brain' of the tech, making all the decisions that need to be made, and it uses a range of tools to help it accomplish what it wants. RADAR uses radio waves to analyze what objects surround the car, LIDAR uses lasers to do the same thing, and GPS (as most of us know) is used to guide the car to where it needs to go, and what turns it needs to take.

Benefits
While the implementation is long away in the future, some analysts have given their two-cents on how they believe this new tech could benefit the public. Many analysts say that if this new tech is implemented, there could be a decrease in the amount of automobiles on the road, a decrease in emissions from cars, and a surprising decrease in the amount of car crashes on the road. There have also been ways that this new tech could benefit people monetarily.

Concerns with the tech
In regards to what problems surround the tech, there are many aspects to look at: social, legal, ethical, and security. On the social front, the tech needs to have the approval and the trust of the public if it is going to have commercial success. On the legal and ethical front, it is inevitable that this new tech will be subjected to crashing (even if not as often as manual drivers), and there are many questions surrounding how the algorithm of a self-driving car should handle possible collisions, and who takes legal responsibility in the case of an accident/crash. Finally, on the security front, manufactures have confirmed that the tech can be hacked, causing harm to would-be customers, which also hurts public trust. So programmers of the tech need to do a lot in terms of beefing-up the security capabilities around the tech.