User:Tehmeenaasif/sandbox

Autonomous Vehicles

Background An autonomous vehicle is an unmanned car that is capable of navigating roads through many technological systems. There are different names that people know autonomous vehicles as driverless cars, self-driving cars, auto car, robotic car, etc. Currently, all autonomous cars require a human with a driver's license to be at the wheel to take control of the car in case of an emergency. Driverless cars currently use a variety of technological systems to detect their surroundings such as radar, computer vision, and odometry. The first attempt at truly creating advanced technology based self-driving cars was in the 1980s. Researchers did try many times before 1980 but this was truly the first attempt. It started at Carnegie Mellon University and Bundeswehr University in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz. A decade and a half later a huge milestone was met, Carnegie Mellon University completed the first long-distance drive with an autonomous vehicle. That car went from Pittsburgh, PA to San Diego, CA with an average speed of 68 mph. Since this technological achievement, others have researched and developed prototypes.

Potential Benefits Imagine the things you could get done when driving. If you're a college student you can spend driving time studying. If you have a proposal to present at work you can spend driving time preparing for that proposal. If your child is crying in the back seat you can tend to it while the vehicle is self-driving. The amount and power of multitasking would be 100 times more than ever. Drivers in an autonomous vehicle won't have to give their full consent to driving instead they can be more productive. For people with disabilities and the elderly autonomous cars could provide enhanced mobility.

Ethical Concerns As autonomous vehicles emerge and provide benefits to our world there are various legal, ethical and social issues emerging as well. When an autonomous vehicle crashes, who is responsible morally, financially, and criminally? Who is Liable in a case of a crash? Although there are many sides to this case after thorough research I've separated it into two main sides. There are people who believe that the car manufacturers themselves should be held responsible for the crash. Then there are people who argue the ‘driver’ should be held responsible. As of now, liability issues are a huge concern for autonomous vehicles and it is one of the major reason that Congress isn't signing off the green light for self-driving cars.

Security Concerns There are some privacy-related issues that arise from the technology of autonomous cars. It can now be easier to hack the car like you would with any mobile device. You can gather data about individuals. Not only could you hack personal data, but you could also hack the routes taken, behavioral patterns, you could re route the route that the person is taking, you could put a virus in the software and programs the car is using.

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