Siri, you can drive my car

Last month, Nissan Motor Co. announced plans to launch autonomous drive technology in its cars by 2016. The new automobiles will be able to park themselves and by 2018 will be able to steer on multilane roads, evaluate dangers and change course accordingly. In this endeavor, Nissan joins Ford — which recently announced a partnership with the University of Michigan to develop automated driving research — and Mercedes, Audi, Tesla and Google in the race to produce the first driverless car for consumer use.

Google, whose models have logged more than 700,000 miles on public roads without accidents, and Nissan seem to be at the front of the pack, promising consumer models by 2017 and 2020, respectively. Early estimates indicate that up to 75 percent of the U.S. car fleet will be autonomous by 2040. After a driverless car test drive in 2013, Rep. Bill Shuster of the House Transportation Committee declared, “Driverless car technology is the future of transportation.”

As consumer availability creeps closer, lawmakers are determining the appropriate level of regulations for this innovative technology. If regulators choose to stand in the way of driverless cars, they will only delay a new era of transportation safety and mobility. In the U.S., four states — California, Nevada, Michigan and Florida — have enacted legislation permitting the operation of driverless cars on public highways. Driverless technology has the potential to save thousands of lives annually, significantly reduce traffic congestion and increase mobility for those people who currently lack it.  

Autonomous vehicles navigate without the need for human control (and all its failings). They use advanced computer systems that react more quickly to traffic and pedestrians than the human brain can. Google’s cars utilize a combination of radar, lasers and cameras on the roof of the car to detect pedestrians, obstacles and infrastructure, all in real time. Their cameras cover 360 degrees and have sensors that map out nearby road features, traffic lights, signs and pedestrians. Google’s technology builds a 3-D map each time the car follows a specific route and continually updates it to improve driving ability. So if an obstacle suddenly appears such as a child running into a street, the car’s sensors will recognize the danger faster than the human eye could react and will immediately brake.

The benefits of enhanced safety will be seen once consumer models begin hitting the roads. Raj Rajkumar, a leading driverless car researcher explains, “Because computers don’t get distracted, sleepy or angry, they can actually keep us much safer. That is the promise of this technology.” Estimates show that 93 percent of accidents are caused by human factors such as speeding, distracted driving, drunken driving, aggressive driving and driver fatigue. By replacing accident-prone human drivers with advanced computer systems, the 35,000 Americans killed and nearly 4 million injured per year will dramatically decrease. By delaying mass adoption through onerous regulations, like those seen in the District of Columbia, lawmakers are completely disregarding a magnificent potential increase in road safety.

Driverless cars also promise a boon in efficiency. More cars will be able to drive on the same highways because advanced computer systems lower the need for following distance. They could drastically cut down on congestion, which causes a $100 billion loss per year to the U.S. economy and results in Americans wasting about 2 billion gallons of gas. Less congestion means less aggravation for drivers and less air pollution from gridlocked vehicles. In other words, driverless cars will push the U.S. car fleet to go green without burdensome government regulations. With fewer accidents, vehicles could be manufactured lighter, since collision protection accounts for a great deal of vehicle weight. And a lighter car fleet uses less fuel.

With autonomous vehicles, the disabled, elderly, young, poor and drunk will all have increased mobility without sacrificing safety. This means parents will no longer have to be in two places at once to ensure their kids get to soccer practice, drunk bar patrons will not be swerving on the road at 3 a.m. and elderly drivers with slowed reaction times will not be behind the wheel. Driverless cars can put all people on the road while increasing safety. 

To win public acceptance, this technology needs to answer four concerns. First, driverless cars raise a very serious fear of the unknown. As Stanford University’s Bryant Walker Smith puts the comfort of the status quo, “It’s the one headline ‘Machine kills child’ rather than the 30,000 obituaries we have every year from humans killed on the roads.” Second, there are real issues surrounding liability and insurance for these vehicles. Third, some have voiced concern over cybersecurity with the computer systems. For example, what if these cars could be remotely hacked? And fourth, some fear that autonomous techology will decrease employment (but they must acknowledge the cost of travel will decrease for all consumers).

These concerns are easily surmountable and fade when confronted with the overwhelming evidence of the life-saving capability of driverless technology. Part of the reason for delayed release of the technology is that developers are ensuring cyber concerns are dealt with. And insurance companies are never so far behind in the game that they can’t come up with new policies. As for employment, there are plenty of opportunities for expansion in the labor force. A much longer commute to new job opportunities is more attractive when one can sleep or conduct business on the way to work.

The advent of the automobile has done more to increase mobility than any other innovation. Driverless cars offer an entirely new dimension of mobility never before possible. This technology would be the most radical change to U.S. surface transportation since the interstate highway system was created more than half a century ago. Melanie Schultz van Haegen, the Cabinet Minister for Infrastructure and Environment in the Netherlands, says that “in 20 years, developments in this area will change the relationship between driver and vehicle more than in the past 100 years.”

New laws or confusing rules could lead to higher costs and more delays in turning over the U.S. car fleet. Responsible lawmakers should do their best to ensure safety for all Americans. Saving tens of thousands of lives, thousands of injuries and billions of dollars each year is a noble goal that is completely possible within the next 10 years through driverless transport.