The Reality of Autonomous Cars

Autonomous Cars: We’re Getting There

For years, it had seemed like autonomous cars were a marvel of science fiction. The idea of putting your car on auto-pilot while you take a few more minutes of shut eye before work is a very tempting one, but what happens when science fiction meets reality?

For starters, the self-driving car of your dreams does not even exist yet. The technology is up and coming, but it’s not quite there yet. We do not currently have the ability to create true self-driving cars.

Another road bump for those designing autonomous cars is the price of the product. Sure, it would be great to finally design a working car that can taxi its passengers around town, but the market price would be outrageous.

When the technology comes to the table and self-driving cars become widespread and affordable, what will the world look like? This invention has the ability to change the roads as we know them, making driving safer, more efficient, and less work than it already is.

The first change that I think of is the potential to nearly erase traffic. In a world where the reality of human error cannot seep its way onto roadways, stop and go traffic could be a thing of the past. If every autonomous car travels at the exact speed as the other self-driving vehicles on the road, traffic rates would decrease across the globe, ultimately saving fuel.

In addition, self-driving cars could also provide a new level of safety to passengers and pedestrians alike. Although it is difficult to program a car to detect a pedestrian far enough away for it to still apply the brakes and safely stop in time, the introduction of said technology has the potential to greatly reduce automobile accidents and instances of injuries to pedestrians.

Although some of the greatest minds in the world are developing this technology, it still seems we are years away from any substantial breakthroughs. But every day, it seems science fiction becomes reality.

(Image Source: iCLIPART)