The Benefits and Negatives of Driverless Cars

 by Ben C

Driverless cars are no longer a distant idea of the future; they are becoming more and more common. On Sunday the 28th of April, Chinese authorities removed restrictions on Tesla cars, which would now allow a rollout of Tesla’s full self-driving (FSD) technology to be available throughout the country. This is a huge milestone for self-driving cars, as more and more countries are becoming open to their potential benefits. In 2023, the UK government also allowed for the first self-driving cars to be on UK roads for 2025. However, some critics are adamant about the potential dangers from driverless cars. News articles tell of crashes caused by driverless cars, and videos on social media show how technology can have its limits. But do the benefits of self-driving cars outweigh the negatives?

One of the advantages of self-driving cars is the ability to reduce human error; 95% of road traffic incidents are caused by human drivers, whether this is from lack of sleep, lack of attention or failing to take note of a road sign. Technology in driverless vehicles would be able to eliminate these errors, and the number of accidents could be reduced. However, technology in a car must calculate and evaluate huge amounts of data in real time, with the ability to make correct predictions. A single error can lead to a crash, so it can be argued that, in some ways, driverless cars are more dangerous for society. 

Driverless cars would open up more freedom to those with disabilities who wouldn’t be able to drive normally. For the elderly and those with disabilities, self driving cars would allow safer driving with much less concentration. This would also be beneficial for the manufacturers of self driving cars, who could appeal to a large target group. Despite this, over 70% of people said they would feel uncomfortable in a self-driving vehicle, indicating that cars still have a long way to go to gain the trust of the public. A recent inquiry by the Federal transportation agency found that Tesla’s autopilot feature was involved in 14 fatal crashes in the US, so driverless cars still have a long way until they could be accepted in society. 

However, from an economic standpoint, driverless cars would result in a loss of jobs, particularly for taxi drivers. In London alone, there are over 18,000 licensed black cab taxi drivers, and in the rest of the UK, there are over 130,000 taxi drivers.  An introduction of driverless cars could mean that these taxi drivers lose their jobs, which could then extend to the public transport sector; if self driving cars become more reliable, then people could be more inclined to take a driverless car instead of the train or bus. Less people employed would mean less people paying taxes to the government, so the government wouldn't have as much money to spend on improving other areas of the economy. However, driverless cars could possibly create some jobs; companies hiring engineers and software developers to help build self-driving cars would be more in demand. So people could both lose and gain jobs if self driving cars come into effect. 

As of now, self-driving cars aren’t widely accepted by British society. But improvements in technology and new regulations could result in driverless cars becoming more widespread. By 2035, as much as 40% of cars in the UK could have self-driving capabilities. This is a big step to make, but if the public becomes more open to driverless cars, then perhaps these cars will dictate the future of our driving.