Introduction
You may have heard some talk about autonomous vehicles, the self-driving cars of tomorrow. But while they’re not quite ready for prime time yet, they’re getting there quickly. It’s easy to imagine a future where you hop in your car and tell it where you want to go—maybe even without having to drive at all. That sounds like a dream come true for many people who are sick of commuting, but when self-driving cars become ubiquitous (which is inevitable), there will be serious questions about how safe these vehicles really are. What happens if one crashes? Who’s liable? Will insurance companies cover damages from accidents caused by computer error instead of human error? In order for self-driving cars to be truly successful and reliable, we need them to do what humans need them to do—not what humans expect them to do based on past experiences with human drivers or other forms of transportation that require much less precision than cars currently do. So how can we make sure our autonomous vehicles actually take care of us when they’re on the road? Here are five ways:
Self-driving cars are still in their infancy.
Self-driving cars are still in their infancy, and they’re not perfect. They won’t be able to handle every situation that comes up on the road. And that’s okay! Self-driving cars will have to deal with many different circumstances: pedestrians, other vehicles, weather conditions and road layout changes (like construction zones). They’ll also need to be able to handle a wide range of situations: from driving in heavy traffic on a highway at 60 mph down to navigating narrow city streets where there may only be enough room for one lane of traffic at 20 mph.
The technology is getting better, but it’s still far from perfect.
We’re not there yet.
While the technology is getting better, it’s still far from perfect. Self-driving cars still have a long way to go before they become mainstream vehicles. There are many challenges that need to be overcome before we can start using them on our roads and in our cities–and even then, they’ll only work in certain situations.
For example: when there’s bad weather or low visibility (like fog), autonomous cars may have trouble navigating safely; if there are obstacles like pedestrians or animals crossing their path unexpectedly (or even just regular pedestrians who aren’t aware of how fast these vehicles move), this could cause problems too; other drivers might not understand how self-driving cars work so they might not respect them as much as human drivers do today…the list goes on!
There are still plenty of situations where autonomous vehicles can’t function properly.
There are still plenty of situations where autonomous vehicles can’t function properly.
Weather conditions, road conditions and even traffic lights all can have a big impact on how well your car drives itself.
For example, if it’s raining or snowing out and the roads are slick with water or snow then your car may struggle to drive itself safely because it won’t be able to see as well as it normally would be able to see if there wasn’t anything covering up its sensors. Also things like signs along the side of the road with arrows pointing left or right showing which way you need to go could confuse an autonomous vehicle because they aren’t used often enough (or at all) anymore so most people don’t know what they mean anymore either!
Autonomous vehicles will have to deal with many different circumstances.
Autonomous vehicles will have to deal with many different circumstances. They’ll be on busy city streets, rural highways, and even off-road environments. Autonomous cars will be used in all kinds of weather conditions, including foggy mornings and torrential downpours at night.
Autonomous vehicles need to be able to cope with all these situations if they’re going to work well enough for people to trust them with their lives (or at least trust them enough not to run over small children). If an autonomous car can’t cope with one particular situation–for instance, if it stops working when it rains–then that’s a big problem!
A lot of problems come down to the car doing what humans want, instead of doing what humans need.
A lot of problems come down to the car doing what humans want, instead of doing what humans need.
Humans are still better at some things than computers. We can see farther and with more detail than any camera or laser sensor could ever hope to achieve. But we’re also terrible at knowing how much information we actually need–and what decisions we should make based on it. For example: imagine driving down a road with someone who’s never been there before (or even in their own neighborhood). They’ll be looking around constantly, trying to figure out where they are and where they should go next; meanwhile, you know exactly where you are because all your GPS data is stored locally on your phone or tablet device–but now your passenger wants directions! So now you have two people spending time figuring out where they’re supposed to go instead of focusing on driving safely; meanwhile, other cars could pass them by since no one was paying attention while trying not only find their destination but also figure out how best reach it safely
Human-centered design will help alleviate some of these issues.
- Human-centered design will help alleviate some of these issues.
- It’s a process that involves putting the user at the center of every decision, from conception to completion.
- The goal is to design for people, not technology or cars–even though autonomous vehicles have been around since World War II (when they were used as anti-aircraft weapons), it wasn’t until recently that companies like Google started focusing on how such vehicles could be used in everyday life by ordinary people.
There are some things you can do now to make sure your self-driving car does what you need it to do no matter what
You can do some things now to make sure your self-driving car does what you need it to do no matter what.
- Test your self-driving car in a variety of conditions. This includes different weather conditions, time of day (night driving is much more difficult) and road surfaces (pavement vs dirt). The more diverse testing you do now, the better prepared your car will be when it really matters later on.
- Don’t rely on the car to do everything for you. If something goes wrong with the system while driving, take control immediately! You don’t want someone else getting hurt because they assumed their autonomous vehicle would never malfunction…and then did nothing when it did malfunction!
Conclusion
There are still plenty of problems to be solved, but the self-driving car is an amazing technology that can help people around the world. By making sure that your car does what you need it to do no matter what, you can make sure that everyone benefits from this new technology.
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