Yeah, I said it: Important Benefits! When you talk about self-driving autonomous cars many people only think of more personal benefits such as picking up a family/friend at the airport or pick-up and drop owner at work or grocery shop…..even deliver pizza. Not to say that these personal benefits are totally inconsequential however, it doesn’t portray the big picture; big picture here being the more important, more wide-spread benefits that will go on to impact the entire world. Now, a few of those very important benefits include:
Human Errors Eliminated, Near Zero!
A total of 1.2 million people lose their lives to road-traffic accidents worldwide, 30,000 of which happen in the U.S. A whopping 98% of these accidents occur as a result of human error including drunk-driving, texting and driving, sleep-driving, slow reaction time, drug-abuse-driving (you get the point), impatience and selfishness, chatting while driving, faulty car parts such as brakes d
ue to carelessness, sex while driving, even groin scratching and nose-picking (sorry, couldn’t resist) have also been recorded. Even if only half the cars in the world are automated it will greatly reduce the road accident rates, studies say. Super computers installed in these cars make super accurate calculations in split seconds giving information like behavior of other cars, distance from objects, speed,….even how much fart in your car seat has received in the last few months. These byzantine computers use these readings to virtually eliminate errors.
Zero Traffic Congestion
Autonomous cars will be better coordinated (and much less selfish) as they will be able to communicate one to another making traffic signs nearly obsolete. Even in heavy traffic hours, autonomous cars will know to give adequate space between cars and drive more slowly resulting in a harmonious flow of traffic. As accidents are among the biggest causes of traffic jam, reduction in accidents will automatically translate to less traffic. And then there’s the…
Health Benefits
The health of car owners will significantly improve because studies have shown that traffic jams are a major cause of depression (does that include the Great Depression of ’29? Who knows), anxiety, high blood pressure, and infertility in male drivers (who have to sit on their ‘nuts’ all day in traffic; a little air is good for the ‘nuts’, ask your doctor), as well as cardiovascular fitness and improved sleep.
Reduced Emission Rate
24 pounds of carbon dioxide and numerous other global warming gases (including fart) are released from each gallon of fuel consumed. Again, self-driving cars will help solve this issue as coordinated driving will lead to less fuel consumption and less emission. And also a very important point that most people don’t take into account is: most the self-driving cars will most likely be driven by electricity, not petro-fuels.
Time Management
Wait, wait, hold up! Before you curse and touch that dial let me explain what I mean by time management. Do you know that an average car owner spends 204 hours on the road every year, with well over 70% of that in traffic? Now, imagine what you could with 204 hours: playing games, watching a movie, doing business and making money, spending time with family/loved ones, writing an article about self-driving cars, groin scratching, etc.
There you have it; wide-spread benefits of self-driving cars and there is more to be revealed such less cash spent on fuel, insurance, and others that we may not be able to see until we have them on the streets. However, presently, let us drive safely and obey all traffic rules so that we can leave long enough to see the invention of the autonomous nose-picker!