1DRIVERLESS CARS Technology is making its presence felt in almost every arena and one such arena is the automotive sector. Driverless cars are the innovations of this sector that make use of numerous sensors for understanding the nearby environment. The informations that are obtained through the sensors help these cars to navigate in proper direction. There are advantages as well as various disadvantages of this technology(Kaur and Rampersad 2018). Reductions in the road accidents can be considered as one of the major reasons for development of driverless cars but it is necessary to understand the reasons why these are unable to capture the market. Advantages of driverless cars include its potential to bring in reductions in the road accidents and another is best medium for transportation for disabled people. Disabled people face a lot of problems commuting in public vehicles thus they can opt for driverless cars for enjoying the various benefits of enhanced mobility. Disadvantages related to the technology include vulnerability to hacking and high cost. Hackers can get into the programming of driverless cars thus disrupting the system(Roe 2019). Technical failures can certainly happen such as defect in sensors which can cause severe accidents. The technology behind driverless cars requires lots of sensors and good programming which adds to the cost. The cost is recouped by the setting the sales price to a high value. Semi-autonomous cars are already on roads but it can be said that these have not been able to capture the market yet. The reason can be that drivers have a misconception that semi- autonomous cars can cope up with any or every situation that they encounter. Experts are of the opinion that drivers do not understand what should be done or what they cannot do(Tech Tent - driven to distraction? 2020). Many big companies have tried testing driverless cars but due to some or other thing they have stopped proceeding with this venture. For instance, Uber suspended its self-driving car across North American cities after a fatal accident in which a woman aged 49 years was run down by a driverless car while was crossing a street in Arizona
2DRIVERLESS CARS (Uber halts self-driving tests after death 2020). This was the first time that a self driving car indulged in such a fatal collision. The accident happened when the car was on autonomous mode. Experts are of the opinion that the technology is being deployed before it has been fully tested. In order to make driverless cars successful many big companies are building partnerships such as Toyota is to make an investment of $500m in Uber to support its venture of driverless cars(Toyota to invest $500m in Uber 2020). The company confirmed that it will join with Uber to develop autonomous cars. Toyota’s Sienna Minivan model will be used for this purpose and the testing is to be started in the beginning of 2021. Thus, it can be said that driverless cars can be considered as the future of car industry and may be some years down the line people will no longer go for brands of cars but the brands that make driverless cars.
3DRIVERLESS CARS References BBCNews.2020.TechTent-DrivenToDistraction?.[online]Availableat: <https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44496859> [Accessed 23 March 2020]. BBCNews.2020.ToyotaToInvest$500MInUber.[online]Availableat: <https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45324753> [Accessed 23 March 2020]. BBCNews.2020.UberHaltsSelf-DrivingTestsAfterDeath.[online]Availableat: <https://www.bbc.com/news/business-43459156> [Accessed 23 March 2020]. Kaur, K. and Rampersad, G., 2018. Trust in driverless cars: Investigating key factors influencingtheadoptionofdriverlesscars.JournalofEngineeringandTechnology Management,48, pp.87-96. Roe, M., 2019. Who's Driving That Car: An Analysis of Regulatory and Potential Liability Frameworks for Driverless Cars.BCL Rev.,60, p.317.