Are self driving cars safer and better?

Futuristic as it may sound but self driving cars are a reality today thanks to new technologies. The famous Google car is already in use in 3 states of the USA namely California, Nevada and Florida and although we’re not sure when that’s going to be available to us British citizens, scientists at the Oxford University have developed their own version of an autonomous car.

The benefits

• Less accidents - This would be the number 1 advantage! Equipped with radars and lasers to build a 3D map of your surrounding and a GPS system to track your current location and feed relevant data for your journey, the risks of collisions and accidents are reduced to nearly zero. No matter how alert and professional a driver is, it is impossible to compete with a system that's taking in consideration input data from so many sources before continuing at its current speed and proceeding on its current path.
• Safer to drive - Take away distractions like texting, mobile phones, noisy kids at the back and changing music you're listening to and you have a safer driving experience not only for yourself but for other road users too. This also excludes drink driving, drugs or any other situation where a human being might be unfit to actually drive.
• More law abiding - We're talking about a car which has been programmed to respect the law. So there's not going to be any speeding to jump the traffic lights or ignoring the traffic signs (eg drive at 35mph on a 20mph road near a school).
• No physical limitation as humans - You would be able to go on a long journey without stopping to rest because the car doesn't get tired. So this gets you to your destination quicker.
• No emotions involved - Often you see drivers who do not respect the Highway Code or show no signs of courtesy and that adds to the stress and frustration of driving but that could be a problem of the past now.
• Better journey planning - The inbuilt computer systems would be able to tap into real time traffic data and take you on the shortest route thus avoiding any congestion on alternate routes.

The main concerns and limitations

• Driving in snow - When the road surface is covered with snow, it makes it hard for the self-drive cars to identity the lane markers. This is an important piece of info which they use to stay in lane and if they cannot find the solid white line indicating the side closer to the end of the road and that for the lane division, it will be difficult for them to position the vehicle correctly.
• Traffic signals given by a police officer - Sometimes a policeman or another person might be helping with the traffic and this might cause a problem as hand gestures can vary from one person to another. Think about going through a place where an accident has just occurred or entering a construction zone where one of the builders is telling you where to go. This may confuse the system and may prevent it from knowing what to do next especially when you're given direction to go ahead but the traffic lights are showing red.
• Differences in the map and the actual road - If the projected map does not match the current road layout being driven on, that could become a problem. This may arise if there are changes on a road that are not reflected on the map yet. Maybe it's an unusual road which is not popular at all and therefore that particular map location was not updated.

Points worth noting

• If you think this invention will allow you to drink and "drive", well you're mistaken. According to the laws in the UK, it is an offence to be in charge of a motor vehicle while unfit through drugs or alcohol (see DR40, DR50, DR90). People have been prosecuted for sleeping in the car drunk.
• Will the self driving car be a substitution for a driver's licence? I don't think so because you still need to sit in the driver's seat even though you won't need to do anything to control the car. This is a fall back plan just in case something goes wrong thus giving you a manual override. So yes, you'd have to sit there and do nothing. Sounds fun, right?
• Are you going to be liable for any accidents? If someone were to lose their lives or damage was done because of your car, then most likely, you'd be the one who's going to get sued or the manufacturer can be liable provided that evidence can be provided to show that the system was at fault. The main question is whether you're ready to take on that risk.
• How will car insurance be affected? Insurers will see that self drive systems are superior than human drivers and if you don't own one of these cars in the future, you might be penalised with huge premiums.
• Is that going to be the sought after technology for disabled drivers? Although the idea of blind people being technically able to drive with this system is exciting or handicaps no longer needing modification done to their vehicles so that they are adapted to their particular needs, a qualified driver is still needed to take control of the car should the need arise. The current laws do not allow driverless cars yet but that could change in the future.