Autonomous vehicles are here, but is society here for them?

Lately, the hype around autonomous vehicles has been on the rise. Especially with big names like Elon Musk expressing how influential and helpful they can be for everyone. However, the ethics around fully autonomous vehicles is still a huge debate. This post will highlight some interesting aspects of having autonomous vehicles on roads.

Right now, autonomous vehicles legally on the road are Level 1 and 2, which provide advanced, but limited autonomous capabilities. A major manufacturer is Tesla. However, there are some more advanced autonomous vehicles on the road, they are just not commercially available. Waymo, for example, has been testing a fully autonomous vehicle that will transport people from point A to point B.

Uber, on the other hand, has seen the tougher side of the race for commercially-applicable autonomous vehicles. After already being in a lawsuit with Waymo, one of Uber's autonomous vehicles got in a deadly accident and has since suspended testing. 

Here is where having autonomous vehicles on roads becomes interesting...If the car didn't happen to be owned by a large company such as Uber, who would be responsible for a fatal crash. This is just one of the major ethical issues that autonomous vehicles face.

Going back to Uber potentially deploying autonomous vehicles, what would happen to all of the Uber drivers that, in some cases, make ends meet with the company. Job loss is yet another drawback of reaching a commercially-applicable autonomous vehicle. Uber or Lyft drivers would no longer be employed once big companies like the aforementioned ones develop the new tech.

Two more possible issues that are currently present withholding the scalability of autonomous vehicles: insurance and driver licenses. With the both the car and person having a functional dependency on the A.I. in the car, who and what needs to be insured and how does an insurance company handle possible wrecks. Secondly, does a driver license become obsolete? With people no longer being needed to operate vehicles, does that allow anyone to get on the road so long as they have a car, or can call an Uber?

Needless to say, there are several, big ethical issues. However, many of the current issues with deploying autonomous vehicles and completing the vehicle cloud could be solved with 5G and the IoT. Another possible fix will be the increase of car sharing. Iain Levy, VP of Automotive with eyeSight says, 

"As vehicles become fully autonomous, there will be less need for people to own their own vehicles and the market will shift towards car sharing programs. Identifying who the driver or passenger is through facial recognition technology and being able to personalize the vehicle will make the sharing experience more enjoyable for the user."

In short, autonomous vehicles are truly inevitable, and many researchers and companies are constantly finding ways to make this former dream, a reality. While the ethics behind them may be a hard pill to swallow for some, the environmental and economical implications of autonomous vehicles are a big step forward.