Collaborative Post¦ If you are thinking about purchasing a new vehicle this year, then you might already be considering whether you should shell out and invest in an autonomous car. Essentially, this is a car that drives itself without human input. However, while this description sounds exciting and it’s how these cars are being marketing, it’s not quite the reality. This has led to many people questioning whether it’s time to invest. There are several variables to consider here.
Do Self Driving Cars Work?
Can a self-driving car that you can buy on the market right now work without any human input? In theory, yes, but the reality is quite different. There is no car that is on the market today which is designed to work without a little human input. Even Tesla, arguably the innovator of self-driving vehicles maintains that drivers should still be paying attention to the road. Indeed, some of their top vehicles will pull over when safe to do so if you take your hand off the wheel for too long. There are also limitations on how and when this type of technology functions. The technology is improving but most agree it’s still in its infant stages. You can keep an eye on the latest automotive news to see what developments occur, as any new advancements will be readily reported.
The benefits of the latest self-driving tech aren’t thatuch of a leap from the features that you would gain access to if you purchased a vehicle from a used car dealer that dates back to 2019. A car like this has sensors to stay in the lines while driving and may correct your handling of the vehicle if you are operating it in a way that could lead to an accident.
Are They Safe?
Again, in theory, self-driving cars are the safest option for drivers on the road right now. But there have been some well documented examples where these cars failed, leading to catastrophic results. This includes someone who died while driving a car like this because they were paying too much attention to the movie. Tesla maintained this driver had nearly sixty seconds to correct the course of the car before the crash. This might not seem like a lot of time. But on the road, sixty seconds does give you a lot of leeway when completing a manoeuvre. So these cars are safe, if you treat the self-driving aspect as an add-on rather than a main feature. The easiest way to explain this is this. As of right now, you can’t sit in the back while a car takes you where you need to go. Someone has to be in the driver’s seat.
Will This Change?
Absolutely, there are 5 different levels of the autonomous vehicle. Most developers are currently working to perfect level 3. Aside from Google, there is no developer anywhere near producing a vehicle that can achieve level 5.
It’s clear then that there are reasons to be excited about the current state of autonomous technology and its place on the roads. However, we still have a long way to travel before we are successful in achieving the latest forms of this tech. Only then can we guarantee that cars are going to keep us completely safe and revolutionize the way we think about land travel.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.