Spencer Burkett

Mrs. Skolrud

English 12a

14 May, 2021

Self Driving Cars Informational Essay

Self-driving cars are a fast-approaching reality with today’s technological advancements.

Said advancements have been approaching with massively increasing speeds in the past three

decades. There are many factors to consider before the implementation of self-driving cars goes

into effect, though. Among these are public opinion, safety, morality, and even possible health

concerns.

Before dealing with any of these concerns, we need to learn the different levels of

autonomy and which ones can be considered as self-driving cars. According to the Society of

Automotive Engineers, there are 6 different levels. Those that can’t really be considered as

self-driving are levels 0-3. Zero is no assistance. One is partial assistance, such as brake and

throttle sometimes being controlled. Two is partial assistance, with steering being added as

something the car can control, but vigilance is necessary. Three, conditional assistance, can also

change lanes, as long as one is aware of the surroundings. The last two will be our focus. Four is

high automation, where the car takes care of almost all situations. If it can’t, the driver will be

asked to take control. Five is full automation, where no human intervention is needed nor

possible. Five is, unfortunately, just a pipe dream at this point, but the implications of such a car

can still be considered.

 Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can consider the advantages and

disadvantages of self-driving cars. First, and arguably most important, is health concerns.

Ninety-four percent of all serious crashes are due to human error (NHTSA, page 3). Eliminating

the human aspect of driving may eliminate, or at least mitigate, any such accidents. This may not

be entirely eliminated, though. A study by IIHS says that perhaps up to two-thirds of accidents

would have to be eliminated at the cost of speed and convenience. While this number is not

small, it is quite good to remove a third of all accidents either way. While it would prevent

accidents due to sleepy or drunk drivers, prediction of space, speed, and other factors may not be

better than humans. Unless all cars are entirely autonomous and can communicate with each

other, it is difficult to tell how people or different AI would react to a situation. Furthermore, it

would not prevent crashes that are caused by the malfunction of the vehicle. If you counted AI

failure as vehicle malfunction, this number would likely increase rather than decrease. This isn’t

to say that self-driving cars wouldn’t improve the safety of the roads, but it likely isn’t to the

extent of most people’s imaginations.

Let’s now focus on people-oriented issues. There are many ethical concerns that go into

the consideration of self-driving cars. Self-driving cars may be a more green way to go than

human driver cars. They can choose fuel-efficient routes and can accelerate and brake more

smoothly, which saves fuel and reduces emissions. Creating new cars may instead add to the

emissions though if we aren’t careful. Self-driving cars would also need quite a bit more power.

These cars require extra sensors, internal computers, and more to keep themselves running. This

both adds weight and increases electrical power consumption. Prices are also a big concern for

those who wish to purchase a self-driving car. Many would not be able to afford the prices,

which go up to $150,000 for the driverless aspect alone (Nunes, Paragraph 6).
 Morality may also play a large factor in the implementation of self-driving cars. How do

you decide what is right for a car to do? If a pedestrian crosses illegally, do you heavily endanger

your family to save them? Risk the lives of your own family for a stranger? What about if you

had to hit someone, how do you choose who? Studies by the German Ethics Commission show

that nobody can agree on what is right to do, past sparing humans over animals. Nobody agrees,

and that's because they are all raised differently. Let’s look back to the first example. In the

United States, it is more common that a person would save a person illegally crossing the road

than in Japan, according to an article by Amy Maxman. Countries with higher Christian

populations generally sacrifice old lives more than those with Islamic or Confucian traditions.

While this study doesn’t directly correlate to decisions that people make when driving, it does

reflect on the small details that people take in and examine. Due to this, it is difficult to decide

what code a machine should follow.

Morality, practicality, and safety must all be considered for the successful implementation

of self-driving vehicles. How do we decide who to save? How do we make self-driving cars as

efficient as possible? How do we ensure their safety as well? By tackling each individual

problem, we can hope to implement the best possible system.

 Annotated Bibliography

“Automated Vehicles for Safety.” NHTSA, 18 Mar. 2021,

www.nhtsa.gov/technology-innovation/automated-vehicles-safety.

This article gives vital information on the current state of driverless vehicles. It is also a

source of the positive safety effects of automated vehicles. The article discusses the 6 levels of

automation, which gives readers an idea of what to expect from driverless vehicles. It advocates

for driverless vehicles, as most accidents are a result of human error.

Young, Joe. “Self-Driving Vehicles Could Struggle to Eliminate Most Crashes.” IIHS, 4 June

2020,

www.iihs.org/news/detail/self-driving-vehicles-could-struggle-to-eliminate-most-crashes#:~:text

=Human%20error%20plays%20a%20role,trouble%20avoiding%20the%20same%20mistakes.&t

ext=But%20autonomous%20vehicles%20might%20prevent,Insurance%20Institute%20for%20H

ighway%20Safety

This article is useful to give an opposing viewpoint on driverless vehicles. It still supports

the idea that driverless vehicles are safer than driven vehicles, but squashes some of the

expectations.
 Topic 2: Practicality

Nunez, Ashley. “Why Driverless Cars Have an Emissions Problem.” BBC Future, BBC, 7

Oct. 2020,

www.bbc.com/future/article/20201007-can-driverless-cars-tackle-climate-change#:~:text=(

Read%20more%20about%20how%20self,ultimately%20reduces%20exhaust%20pipe%20

emissions

This article shows the environmental problems with self-driving cars, severely

reducing their practicality. The other articles touch on this as well, but this one is a lot more

useful to prove a point.

Topic 3: Morality

Maxmen, Amy. “Self-Driving Car Dilemmas Reveal That Moral Choices Are Not Universal.”

Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 24 Oct. 2018,

www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07135-0

This article shows the differing senses of morality in different parts of the world. It shows

that some places value the elderly more, while others value the younger. Some cultures value

those who aren’t disabled to those who are. This plays into the moral choices that must go into

the AI of self-driving cars, and the choices that drivers must make.

Multimedia Link:

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