The errors of humans are the cause of 94% of car crashes as reported by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Drunk driving, drug use distraction, speeding and fatigue are human errors that top the list. In 2013 alone, there were 2.29 million injuries related to autos and 32,028 losses in the US.
One of the opinions for self-driving cars is that they will be much safer than vehicles driven by humans. The only problem with self-driving cars is that they cannot be tested enough hours to ascertain their safety. In order to gather adequate information to compare self-driving cars' safety with human driven cars, they need to be tested hundred million miles and will require a decade.
According to a RAND senior statistician, the most miles covered by a self-driving car is about 1.3 million and that took several years. The industry has to come up with another way to test its safety. Though there had been about a dozen of accidents since the self-driving car was launched but it was all caused due to the error of humans. On the other hand, human intervention has prevented self-driving cars from crashing around thirteen times.
Amidst all these, just a month after Volvo got an order of one hundred self-driving cars from Uber, Apple made a hint about entering the list of self-driving car producers and join big names like Google and Tesla. The Verge reported that the tech giant was working on the project called Titan and has already given a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Apple has admittedly invested heavily in the study of the project and is excited about the capability of the system in varied areas including transportation.
In the letter signed by Steven Kenner, the head of product integrity of the company, Apple has agreed to terms of sharing de-identified dynamics and scenarios data from near misses and crashes. The company is not trying to develop its own electric car according to reports but is centered on producing self-driving software which can be set up as a joint venture with other car makers. The big news came after Volvo trailer which is an 18 wheeler head way from Fort Collins in Colorado to Colorado springs carrying Budweiser beer in 50,000 numbers.
This is not the only big news. New marijuana laws across the United States have caused quite a stir. Even without it, the safety of roads has always been an issue but the legalization of marijuana has aroused fear in the minds of people. Altogether nine states including Montana, Arkansas, North Dakota and Florida have voted in favor of legalizing marijuana for medicinal and recreational uses and they have won raising the brows of many citizens.
One of the biggest fears posed by the legalization of marijuana is the risk of road accidents due to increased human error. Marijuana is known to slow reaction time, decrease coordination and impair judgement of distance and time. According to a nationwide survey of deadly crashes made in 2010, 37% of drivers tested positive for marijuana.
Considering the existing and increasing risks of the use of marijuana and other drugs while driving, substituting it with self-driving cars can be a good alternative. If thoroughly tested self-driving cars can be safe and can replace human driving vehicles in the long run to lessen human error.