Are Self-Driving Cars for the Collective Good?

What will it take for driverless technology to be accepted by the masses? That was among the questions tackled this week in Washington D.C. The annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board had roughly 12,000 individuals from the transportation industry attending. There was no topic more important than the future of self-driving technology. Certainly when it comes to autonomous vehicle tech, there are questions to be answered.

One of those questions is how the technology could improve safety. Google has stated numerous times that they feel their self-driving tech is going to make the world safer and save thousands of lives. The Washington Post reports as many as 30,000 people die each year in the United States from traffic accidents. As many as 95 percent of those accidents have been attributed to human error such as using a cell phone, drinking or being slow to react. From Google perspective most accidents are preventable.

Chris Urmson, the head of the Google self-driving car project, explained Google’s thinking back in 2014. Urmson said, “Imagine never losing someone to a traffic accident again. Imagine a world where you get in your car, it takes you where you want to go, and then you get out. You don’t have to search for parking. You just leave it and it goes off and helps someone else get where they’re going.” Urmson spoke at the Transportation Conference in D.C., more proof that Google has no problem getting their self-driving technology and notions out in front of important audiences.

One of the issues with getting the self-driving car movement to advance is who will stand to benefit? Peter F. Sweatman, the Director of the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, feels that if autonomous technology only benefits society as a whole, it won’t work out. Sweatman told the WP, “If it’s a purely societal benefit, it ain’t gonna happen. This will only happen by being highly attractive to consumers.” How will automakers make cars that don’t need drivers more attractive? How will self-driving cars impact retail automotive? Are you in favor of fully autonomous cars?