The Future of Transportation: Autonomous Vehicles
What is the future of transportation?
Humans crave convenience. As technological development rapidly progresses, a new form of transportation is emerging that appears to be both faster and safer: autonomous vehicles.
An autonomous vehicle is essentially a vehicle that has a level of agency at navigating tasks and environments with an absence of human input. A human passenger is not required to monitor the vehicle at any time and is not required to be present in the vehicle. These vehicles, designed to go anywhere a traditional car goes and do everything that a driver does, are promised to reduce congestion, increase mobility and road safety, and reduce energy consumption.
Given the current rate of technological progress, the emergence of driverless technology is inevitable. Is this a blessing or a curse? While there are safety and regulation concerns that need to be addressed, some say there are many benefits to society, such as road safety and quality of life. “Autonomous systems have a massive potential benefit on society,” says Felipe Alexander Borja, a researcher at the MIT Lincoln Lab and an expert in autonomous systems. “Automating multiple aspects of our society makes things safer, makes things more efficient, and can improve the quality of life for people everywhere. Automating vehicles will reduce the amount of people who die from intoxicated drivers. It will reduce the amount of people who die from distracted drivers. It will reduce the amount of people who die from drivers who fall asleep behind the wheel.”
However, autonomous vehicles have the potential to raise many legal and ethical issues. Who is to blame when an autonomous vehicle causes an accident? Should vehicles prioritize the driver or the pedestrians in a no-win situation? “Oftentimes drivers are put into a decision where they have to choose between the worst of two options, like whether it’s getting the car off the road or hitting a person. One could lead to the death of the pedestrian, while the other one could possibly lead to the death of the driver. There are limitations in sensors and planning and decision making algorithms, but a big limitation for autonomous vehicles right now is how to respond in these sort of critical and outside the box scenarios,” Borja explains.
So in reality, how far are we really off from having autonomous systems that are safer and better than humans? The answer is it depends on data. Autonomous systems lack human empathy, and machines do not have human experiences that impact decision making when faced with a problem such as whether or not to hit a dog on the road. According to Borja, another challenge is the integration of multiple sensors that can interact with and learn from the world, which is needed for proper autonomous navigation. In terms of precision and accuracy, however, autonomous systems have a level of control that may be better than the average human driver.
Nonetheless, there are two massive barriers to adoption of autonomous systems: social acceptability and job loss. “We are distrustful of pretty much every large advancement that we have made, and as a society, it is very hard to adapt to and open up to technologies,” Borja says. “People need to be less afraid of autonomous systems for them to be accepted, but that is a massive thing to ask of the general public.” The public needs to be involved in decisions about the introduction and adoption of autonomous vehicles, and until concerns regarding safety, regulation, and developments in technology are solved, the public is unable to give a stamp of approval. Additionally, there are fears that automation could lead to widespread job loss. “Automating everything will leave people out of work,” Borja says. “There are about 200,000 people who drive taxis in the U.S. and there are about 3.5 million people who drive trucks. Automated vehicles will leave these people without jobs.” For large companies, this is good news. By cutting out the middlemen entirely, companies have less employees to pay, leading to larger profits. Tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Apple are all in the race towards autonomous vehicles. So while autonomous systems have the potential to save lives and increase productivity, they pose a threat to many industries.
Despite these challenges, autonomous vehicles could lead to a 40% decrease in energy use. According to Grace Chua from MIT News, transport accounts for nearly one-third of U.S. energy consumption. Many autonomous vehicles are electric vehicles, which release no emissions. This can improve air quality and enable drivers to commute to their destinations more sustainably. Furthermore, autonomous vehicles have the potential to decrease accidents and increase physical accessibility. With demands on reducing traffic accidents, congestion, energy consumption, and emissions, autonomous vehicles have been recognized as a promising solution to these pressing social and environmental problems.
In the coming years, autonomous vehicles will play an increasing role in society, whether increasing safety for drivers, making deliveries, or increasing mobility for elderly and disabled passengers. And as the birth of autonomous vehicles marks a new era of transportation, we are witnessing an evolution of human mobility that is not too far away.
References
Borja, Felipe Alexander. (2021). Recorded phone interview with Felipe Alexander Borja. July 12, 2021. Dallas, TX.
What is an autonomous car? Synopsys. https://www.synopsys.com/automotive/what-is-autonomous-car.html
Examining the world through signals and systems. MIT News. February 5, 2021. https://news.mit.edu/2021/examining-world-through-signals-and-systems-cathy-wu-0205
Wang, J., Zhang, L., Huang, Y., Zhao, J., & Bella, F. (2020). Safety of autonomous vehicles. Journal of Advanced Transportation, 2020, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8867757
