Irrespective of the ubiquity the benefits of the self-driving cars remains uncertain. Self-driving cars does not eliminate the most visible problem faced by the countries including traffic jams and over crowded streets. In reality self-driving cars will provide more relief to the people, as they will not take the pain of driving for hours. They can relax in the back seats and enjoy their trips thus encouraging them to travel more often and go on long trips. The fact that people will spend more time in cars and take longer trips will worsen the traffic situations. The claim supports the main argument discouraging replacement of driver cars with driver less cars
As automation will put many people out of jobs, the lives of people will become miserable. Another disadvantage of self-driving cars is the threat to employment, as many drivers will lose their jobs. The world in already encountering the problem of unemployment and driving provides earning opportunity to many people. Self-driving cars will definitely take away their jobs thus creating fuss for the society. The taxi companies if switch to self-driving cars it will cause further damages as millions of taxi drivers will face unemployment. The situation is similar to the time when technological age eliminates manual workers from factories due to adoption of advanced technology and machines. In case of self-driving cars they will commit fewer or no errors compared to the drivers thus improving the service. The companies will rely more on driverless cars and neglect the repercussions. Switching to driverless cars is not a wise solution in the world where society already suffers the consequences of economic instability and unemployment. More people out of jobs will suffer the consequences and undergo depression and despair.
More dependence of self-driving cars will mean high cost for the owners. The cars that are driverless involve latest technology and automatic controls giving an indication of high cost. Driverless cars are not feasible for the current world because only the rich will afford the cars creating a class gap between the rich and the poor. Self-driving cars will create more social problems for the people depicting that they are unfavorable. Maintenance costs of these will be high compared to the driverless cars. Social inequality will become more visible becoming negative aspect of the technology. High costs make self-driving cars unfeasible for the current world. Majority of the population will be unable to afford these cars thus motivating them to use driverless cars. People are already suffering the economic issues such as increased prices, slow growth of incomes and less jobs, making it impossible for them to buy automated cars. The presence of self-driving and driverless cars on the roads will create more traffic problems.
The probability of misuse is high representing another threat for the society. Self-driving cars will provide advantage to the criminals as they can use them for committing different crimes. It also poses the risks of its misuse by terrorists and anti-state agencies for spying. The idea of introducing self-driving cars is ineffective when one considers the security issues. Keeping track on the driver exerts high threats for the security agencies as they can move around with an unidentified owner. Driverless cars will increase risks for the traffic officers depicting need for formulation of specific laws that identifies the codes and standards for the drivers and the police. A hacked car is capable of carrying remotely piloted weapon thus representing serious risks. Terrorists can also manipulate the vehicle use creating more security problems.
Self-driving cars when covers long trips and stays on roads for more time will contribute to high carbon footprint. The environmentalists threaten the society to minimize their vehicle use as an intervention to reduce carbon emissions. Self-driving cars are against the idea of reduced vehicle use for environmental conservation. The automated technology influence people to enjoy long trips that would generate negative impact leaving a high carbon footprint. Use of cars for long hours also means increased consumption of fuels that will affect the overall demand worsening the problem of oil depletion. The current consumption of people due to increased number of vehicles promoted reliance on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels threaten the natural reserves of oil and natural gas. Under such circumstances switching to self-driving cars is an impractical idea. Self-driving cars will necessarily contribute to air pollution thus increasing the risks of global warming. The concept of automated cars is also against the idea of saving energy. Increased energy consumption will influence the countries facing energy crisis.
Self-driving cars presents new vulnerabilities including increased accidents and traffic violations. The accuracy of driverless cars still remains one of the concerning issue as it poses greater threats in terms of road safety. Charging fines will be difficult from the owners of driverless cars when they are unidentified. Monitoring these cars also exhibits serious risks for the traffic controllers. The cars will only follows the installed instructions thus remaining unprepared for the unknown incidents.
The claims support the argument that self-driving cars causes more harm than benefits to the society. The assessment of the adverse effects depicts that dropping the idea of replacing automated cars with driverless cars is a better solution. Driverless cars generate more problems such as increased accidents, security problems, affordability issue and unemployment making than impractical for current world.
