Self-Driving Vehicles: Speeding Towards a Turning Point

Self-driving cars are speeding towards a turning point in which the vehicles become more mainstream and are used more widely. The Harvard Gazette recently provided some details about the advancements in the technology behind autonomous vehicles and touted the potential for sensors to advance to the point where a car can react much more quickly than a human car.

While technologies are rapidly advancing, however, there are some lingering points of concern. One issue is that self-driving cars have been involved in several recent accidents that resulted in fatalities. There's also concern about the potential for dangerous situations to exist if self-driving cars have defects or malfunction.

Problems with vehicles are already very common, and a Sacramento lemon law firm can help car owners who buy new vehicles that turn out to have serious issues. As more and more technology is put into cars, there will be a greater potential for things to go wrong. If the car is operating itself and the technology fails, this could pose a grave threat to safety – and this needs to be considered as self-driving cars speed towards widespread adoption.

Self-Driving Cars are Rapidly Advancing

The Harvard Gazette explained that while technology for autonomous vehicles differs from one manufacturer to another, there are two basic strategies for how self-driving cars would operate. One strategy involves a car that act as a chauffeur and mostly eliminates the control people have over the car. The other strategy involves a mostly-autonomous system that human drivers are expected to monitor. When the second strategy is embraced, it's typically expected the human driver will occasionally take the wheel.

Most experts believe there will be a multi-stage rollout of self-driving cars, with the speed at which new technologies are adopted differing based on the early experiences motorists have with their autonomous vehicles.  Drivers may be more willing to try self-driving cars that still give them some measure of control; although, there will be other motorists who are eager and willing to try a completely autonomous car that doesn't require their oversight or necessitate they occasionally step in.

The rollout of self-driving cars won't just involve motorists choosing these new autonomous vehicles either. As more drivers decide to embrace self-driving cars, infrastructure may also be changed to accommodate this new method of transportation. Most experts believe the switch to self-driving cars will create safer roads overall since these vehicles are not prone to human error and don't make dangerous decisions such as drinking and driving.

However, while these self-driving vehicles may ultimately make everyone safer, self-driving cars are still expected to be involved in a growing number of accidents in the future as compared with the number of crashes they're involved in today. This is simply because as more motorists begin to operate these cars and more of them are on the roads, they'll naturally become involved in more collisions compared to when there were just a few.

It remains to be seen whether these accidents derail rapid advancement of self-driving vehicles or whether a turning point has, in fact, been reached. It is important for all drivers to understand the risks and benefits of self-driving cars. Those whose vehicles turn out to have issues will also need to make certain to get help from a Sacramento lemon law firm in pursuing available legal remedies.