Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)

Autonomous vehicles are one of the latest trends in transportation industry. They are cars, buses and trucks that are self-controlled without human drivers.
Different levels of autonomy are included depending on sensors and software incorporated there. Thanks to artificial intelligence today, those vehicles have self- driving systems that depend on sensors to create maps of places.

Advantages of autonomous vehicles

1. House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) said "self-driving cars have the potential in the future to reduce deaths and injuries from car crashes, particularly those that result from driver distraction." It is predicted that almost 90% of traffic deaths will be reduced. Obviously, this technology will increase safety rates and save thousands of people’s lives every year.

2. Research shows that AVs are environment-friendly in that they can be programmed to reduce CO2 emissions and pollution. It is estimated that it will fall by 60%.

3. Traffic congestion is a big problem and it is caused by many reasons. Accidents are one of the reasons as they stop the flow of traffic. Another reason is the stop-and-go traffic (changes in speed) that drivers create. All this leads to traffic jam on streets. AVs offer the solution for congestion as they reduce accidents and eliminate stop-and-go waves by 100%.

4. Eric Sundquist, Managing Director of State Smart Transportation Initiative (SSTI) points out that self-driving vehicles can increase lane capacity by 100% to 500%. Lane capacity means the number of vehicles per lane per hour. Despite the rise in capacity, speed and safety rates are high.

5. With AVs, fuel consumption is reduced by 4%-10% due to many factors. First, they are programmed to accelerate and decelerate smoothly and of course this improves fuel economy. Also, less congestion means less fuel consumption.

6. AVs have time-saving advantages as they help save travel time compared with regular transportation modes. They reduce travel time by 40%.

7. People will benefit from AVs as they are more cost-saving vehicles than the ones driven by humans. Ohio university clarifies the ride cost will fall dramatically. In addition, there will be less insurance costs, running costs and maintenance costs.

8. Less space and parking lots will be required for AVs. They will park all by themselves with less space between one another; this will lead to efficient parking.

9. AVs will enhance the mobility of seniors and disabled people who cannot drive their own cars. This means they will be able to move around, travel and visit many places without help.

Disadvantages of autonomous vehicles

Despite all the benefits mentioned above, this technology needs to be tested continuously because there are many disadvantages.

1. AVs will take the job opportunities of humans as taxi, truck or bus drivers. The employment rate will go down and job losses will rise.

2. Another problem is related to security issues. AVs have a high possibility of hacking because all of them share the same network.

3. AVs cannot be programmed to choose the right decision in each and every situation as human drivers do. This is a problem especially when they face situations like hitting a tree or hitting a pedestrian.

4. While driving, human error is possible. The same applies to autonomous driving. There is always a risk that any part might fail leading to a serious accident.

In summery, AVs have pros and cons and more advances and improvements need to continue in this field. Obviously, not all the world is ready for autonomous vehicles, yet they have great growth potential. 

 
Keywords: Autonomous Vehicles, AVs, Advantages of autonomous vehicles, Disadvantages of autonomous vehicles