In the 21st century, technology is rapidly expanding and becoming a more significant aspect of daily life. Life on earth has changed dramatically, especially in technologically developed countries; the incorporation of modern technology into the daily facets of life has improved efficiency and well-being in nations which technology is abundant. The modern world is composed of iPhones, Smartwatches, Fitbits, and many more gadgets that increase the quality of life by making everyday activities easier and more enjoyable. The large success the technology world has already earned has led to the recent push to change the future of travel and transportation. Today, independent companies are experimenting with the potential designs of automated, or driverless, automobiles. Although automated cars are an exciting concept, there has already been setbacks that have led people to debate the actual practicality of driverless cars. Are automated cars the solution to today’s problems regarding domestic transportation? With current automobiles, it is up to each individual driver to choose how to command their vehicle and humans make mistakes constantly. Even when small mistakes occur on highways the results can be catastrophic and even end in fatality. Perhaps the rise of driverless cars can decrease the amounts of automobile collisions that occur all too frequently. Or maybe driverless technology will increase fuel-efficiency or improve traffic flow. However, the success of automated cars is dependent upon the development of reliable technology that people can feel safe and confident to ride in. By examining the dynamics of automated cars, new innovations and designs can be incorporated to make driverless cars more safe and efficient, which is critical to developed countries standard of living because automotive technology is the future of domestic travel and transportation.

An automated car can be defined as a robotic vehicle that is designed to travel between destinations without human operation. To most people, the idea of sitting behind the wheel and not physically driving the car is an outrageously foreign concept; however, large tech companies believe that this is the future of driving. Apple, Google, and Tesla alike are pushing the idea of driverless automobiles with the vision that future commutes will be as relaxing or as productive as desired, rather than hectic and frustrating. According to Belarusian National Technical University, current designs of the vehicles are utilizing the recent advancements of technology (regarding sensors and radars in combination with software) to produce the futuristic concept of the driverless car, “Information from the sensors is cross-checked and processed by the software so that different objects around the vehicle can be sensed and differentiated accurately, and safe driving decisions can then be made based on all the information received” (Novitskiy, K. and A. Boyarskaya). This incredible incorporation of technology and transportation has led to the recent surge of production of automated cars and has turned the idea into a possible reality in the next five to ten years. The once-distant future may soon become a reality. And the visionaries who are backing this idea also believe that there may be supplemental benefits of automated cars. As of today, there are hopes that automated cars will not only change transportation but also be a cleaner and more efficient alternative to modern automobiles. Unfortunately, this progression does not exactly mean the future of driving will come without some risk, says tech expert Jean-Francois Bonnefon: “These cars will be safer, cleaner, and more efficient than their manual counterparts. And yet they can never be perfectly safe” (Bonnefon). It is important to understand that these automated cars are not completely safe. Although technology experts and engineers are working to produce a safer and ultimately better automobile, it is doubtful that any car will ever be foolproof. 

Despite the exciting advancements in driverless technology, today’s drivers are skeptical of using completely automated cars. When traveling on highways at high speeds it is simply human nature to be cautious of the nearby surroundings. Drivers scout the roads for any potential threats to safety for themselves and their passengers. To trust a computer with such a high responsibility is against all intuition. This brings up the dilemma of how automated cars should behave when undergoing dangerous situations. Bonnefon states: “People are in favor of cars that sacrifice the occupant to save other lives—as long they don’t have to drive one themselves” (Bonnefon). This is a huge challenge for the driverless car market. The ethics of automated cars is a sincerely confusing paradox that ultimately deters potential consumers away because of the firm commitment to put others’ lives first. Another setback in the ideology of automated cars is the rare chance that life could perish because of a computers malfunction. An article in The New York Times spreads the skepticism of the cars, “Tesla, the electric-car maker, has sold tens of thousands of cars with a self-driving feature known as Autopilot. The company has been grappling with the fallout from the death in May of a Florida driver who had the car’s Autopilot on” (Kang). In all honesty, this is a terrifying idea that a valuable life has been lost and only the vehicle is at fault. However, it is also fair to state that this recent technological phenomenon is being overshadowed by the rare instances of tragedy. 

Exploring the morality of robotic vehicles on public roadways brings up some questionable elements of automated cars and their use. Current speculation suggests that the mainstream use of driverless cars can affect any facets of life ranging from occupations to legal considerations. For instance, in a future with driverless automobiles the entirety of driving occupations such as cab drivers and truck drivers will be non-existent, placing more than millions of people out of work. It is also important to consider legal matters. What happens if there is an automobile collision between two automated cars? Who is at fault? Perhaps it would not be the driver at fault like today's system, but rather it would be one of the two programmers of the cars. Andrew Nusca of Fortune hypothesizes that in a future with driverless cars the fault would indeed rest with the programmer, “With self-driving cars you’ve shifted the error from human drivers to human programmers.” (Nusca). There is no doubt this a major change from today’s conventional way of handling legal altercations on the roadways. An additional point regarding the morals of automated cars is the obedience to traffic laws. Driverless cars are being programmed to follow all traffic laws to effectively drive in more of a defensive manner – as expected. However, there is a legitimate point that sometimes traffic laws must be broken in rare instances, whether it is for safety or other means. Is it right to program cars to break traffic laws for specific scenarios? Krishan Novitskiy and Andrew Boyarskaya write: "Sometimes violation of the law is a necessity if you want to save human life. Currently, the way cars behave in these kinds of situations is unpredictable and there is no way how to solve this problem" (Novitskiy, K. and A. Boyarskaya). These questions of morality are difficult questions to answer and require deep, almost philosophical input; it will take more than the cooperation of tech companies to truly develop successful automated cars that can be mass produced. 

Although modern automobiles meet the needs of many drivers, it is clear that there is room for improvement in the world of automobiles. Fundamentality, modern automobiles are roughly the same as they were in the early 1900’s. The basic structure of the automobile and their mechanical combustions system has only forgone small adjustments; and now considering that more people are driving than ever before, the roads have become a dangerous place. A brief video about automated cars concisely points out that modern cars are not as safe as perceived, “More than 30,000 people are killed each year in the US alone, and more than two million are injured. The problem in more than 94% of collisions is driver error” (Muller). The raw data conveys a clear message that something has to be changed for basic domestic transportation. Automated vehicles can be the solution. Despite people’s irrational fears of airplanes, they are significantly safer than automobiles based on raw data on crashes and collisions – and airplanes are generally considered to be automated with little to no human input required from their pilots. Maybe people’s fears of automated technology are a setback to a higher quality of life. Another aspect of modern cars that needs drastic improvement is the efficiency of the vehicles. Modern automobiles are not thought to be fuel-efficient and especially not sustainable for the environment. According to the scholarly article written by tech and car expert Lawrence D. Burns "95% of motor vehicles depend on oil for energy, holding car travel hostage to geopolitical issues and volatility in oil prices. Vehicle combustion engines account for more than one-fifth of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, making them a significant contributor to global climate change" (Burns). It would be ideal that driverless cars are built with fuel-efficacy in mind, decreasing the global emissions of harmful chemicals and increasing the mile-per-gallon rate of automobiles. 

In a world where automated cars are predominately driven, the safety of those traveling on roads and highways will be thoroughly increased and new opportunities to improve the roads will thus become possible. Automated cars can conduct particular actions that would be impossible for humans to perform, giving them an advantage regarding safety. The book, Points of View: Driverless Vehicle outlines perspectives that an automated car with computer software would have an advantage over human drivers. The book ultimately argues the future of driving rests in driverless technology, “Proponents of driverless vehicles argue that replacing cars driven by humans with driverless ones will dramatically reduce the incidence of vehicular accidents, which result in the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans every year” (Crelin). It is also important to realize how safer automobiles would affect roadways. If the roadways had fewer accidents on them, roads could be built more properly and maximize space in urban environments. In cities, there could be substantially less parking lots, increasing the room to build parks, offices, and other structures. A change to a more efficient mean of transportation would better communities and their members suggests the video How Driverless Cars Will Change Cities: “We can design roads in a fundamentally different way. We can likely narrow the roads, because it’s believed vehicles will become much smaller, meaning we can expand the public space. We can expand the area in very urban environments” (Kane). The increased efficiency automated cars possess would be revolutionary to not only domestic travel and transportation, but also the overall quality of life in technologically advanced countries. Living in the urban environments where technology already influences so much, driverless vehicles would be a desirable addition to the technology that benefits routine activities of life. 

Some argue that automated cars are not a possible reality because their current technology cannot handle particular circumstances, such as weather conditions and the actions of other drivers. The current automated car models use software that utilizes the lines in the road to keep the car centered in-between the lanes. However, if the lines are not present the car cannot drive effectively. For instance, snow is a major problem for driverless technology because it blurs the lines that are essential for the cars function, “Snow poses issues for driverless tech like Tesla's Autopilot because it covers lane markings, making it hard for the car to find the lane and navigate properly” (Muoio). Considering that inclement weather is not a particularly rare occurrence, this is a legitimate setback for driverless cars. Another counterargument that can be made against automated cars, is the fact that there will be human drivers on the road. Most developers of the driverless cars are producing them with the mindset that they will eventually be the conventional automobile. However, in today’s world, the vast majority of cars are operated by humans, and not robots. This poses a problem because now automotive cars will have to deal with foreign situations that may not be pre-programmed into the car. An article in Business Insider hints at this problem, “In the backseat of the self-driving Uber, our driver had to take over when a truck was making a right-hand turn from a left lane. It makes sense that a robotic car may not understand how to handle that situation because, by the very rules of the road, it defies all logic” (Muoio). Truthfully, there are dilemmas in automotive technology. However, this should not mean that such great strides of progress should be dismissed, rather, these flaws should be acknowledged and improved upon.

Technologically advanced nations have constantly been improving upon their means of transportation, consistently innovating and designing better methods to travel more efficiently. Automated technology is no different – it is simply a new mode of travel and transportation. Although it may seem like an outlandish idea to essentially be making robots drive humans around, it is completely normal to be improving the ways in which we move and interact with our environment. Perhaps, it is this state of change that we are undergoing that is most unsettling to those who do not believe in automated cars. Particularly in western culture, cars are much more than just ways to get from one point to another. Cars can be a symbol of status, a privilege of freedom, and can be outright enjoyable to drive on an open road on a sunny day with the music blasting. But like all things, this relationship between car and driver may come to an end, says the video How Driverless Cars Will Change Cities: “Car ownership meant status and freedom, but that relationship is about to end. Cars are divorcing their drivers” (Kane). Automobiles will undergo a revolutionary transformation through the incorporation of radars, sensors, and powerful software that will make them safer to ride in than any human-driven car could ever be. Based on the raw data that there is already so much tragedy on the roads, this change is much needed. A revolution of new driving technology is very much justifiable considering that today’s automobiles are roughly the same as the ones from a century ago, says Lawrence D. Burns: "The basic design of automobiles today is the same as it was in 1900: energized by oil, powered by combustion, driven mechanically by a person and intended for broad purpose. Yet road transportation as we know it is unstainable" (Burns). The time of modern automobiles will shortly come to an end. Certainly, this proposition of automated cars is a big change – and sometimes change can be hard. But this change is completely necessary and it is revolutionary ideas, such as driverless cars, that keeps improving humanity, raising the daily quality of daily life.

Living in an age where the world is constantly becoming more technologically adept, it has only a matter of time before the technological advancements reached automobiles - and now that time is upon us. Genuine human intelligence has made great strides to create such an automobile that will not only be driverless, but be more fuel-efficient, less pollutant, and will ultimately improve the way in which citizens of developed countries interact with one another and their local environments. Automated cars are indeed the solution to today’s problems regarding domestic transportation. Over the next decade or two, the incorporation of automated technology on public roadways will reduce the number of automobile crashes and collision – effectively making cars far less dangerous than they are today. Through the analysis of the dynamics of automated cars, new innovations and designs can be incorporated to make driverless cars more safe and efficient; this is critical to developed countries standard of living because automotive technology is the future of domestic travel and transportation. Although some people express skepticism of such technology, it is only the undergoing of change that ought to intimidate, not the cars themselves; and change is a fact of life. The only thing that does not change, is change itself. Automated cars are the future of driving.
