Persuasive Essay On Self Driving Cars

Words: 868
Pages: 4

Self-driving cars, also known as autonomous cars, are defined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as vehicles “in which operation of the vehicle occurs without direct driver input to control the steering, acceleration, and braking and are designed so that the driver is not expected to constantly monitor the roadway while operating in self-driving mode [-].” This means that individuals just get in their cars, tell the car where to go, and the car will take them there with minimal to no assistance from the human. In theory, sure, America would work well if we lived in a Jetson’s (need to copy mark?) style world where you just go in your vehicle and it took you, or even flew you, where you wanted to go without watching where you needed to go. The problem however is, the odds of America turning out less like the Jetson’s and more similar …show more content…
Self-driving cars may appear to be the future and individuals think it’s a safe option, but as Clifford Nass, a Stanford University professor and director of the Revs Program said in the Huffington Post, “People worry about the wrong thing when it comes to the safety of autonomous cars. There are going to be times where the driver has to take over. And that turns out to be by far the most dangerous and totally understudied issue [-].” This issue is one which is not being brought up very often. Not only is it an issue of how great a warning time people have to transition from their vehicle being in self-drive mode, to them needing to take over, but also it will be an issue how seldom people are required to take over. If we transition to autonomous cars, humans will begin to lose the coordination and motor skills it requires to operate these vehicles. This loss of motor skills could lead into other issues and lessen people’s awareness of their