Argumentative Essay On Self-Driving
Zach Scriven
Mr. Belmont
College Composition 1
1 November, 2016
Argumentative
Ethics of Self Driving Cars Self-driving cars only been practical since the early 2000’s, but the need for a self-driving vehicle has existed since the first horse drawn cart. Many types of self driving vehicles exist, including the already mentioned car to large industrial mining machines and farm equipment. Since the self-driving car is now practical and already being tested on open roadways, the moral implications of autonomous cars are coming to light. One of these issues is who the computer in the car should be programmed to save, the driver and other occupants of the vehicle, or pedestrians and other drivers. Innocent pedestrians and other drivers should …show more content…
If a driver is not paying attention, and they most likely are not, it should be their fault, even if anyone else they injured or killed was also not paying attention. The extra responsibility will help the new drivers pay attention and watch the road instead of being distracted. There has already been an incident where a Tesla Motors test driver was killed by crashing into a semi-trailer because he was distracted by watching a Harry Potter movie on a portable DVD player. The auto pilot system failed to detect the semi pulling in front of it, and instead of braking while waiting for the semi to speed up, the car crashed into the protective bar under the trailer. The Tesla driver was killed instantly and the truck driver was fortunately unharmed. If the tesla driver was paying attention he could have braked for the semi and avoided the accident. This is just one of the many similar accidents that will happen in the future because computers are not perfect and will have glitches in their system, and the human operators will be lulled into a false sense of security …show more content…
While convenience is a major reason in the development of a self-driving vehicle, the biggest reason is increased road safety. Holding the drivers of self-driving cars responsible for all accidents will increase the amount of awareness they give to the road, instead of being distracted or even not paying attention at all. If they fail to pay attention it is there fault for wrecking, because computers are not perfect, and require human intervention to avoid most accidents. Allowing self-driving cars to save their occupants instead of others is a horrible mistake that will only get worse with
Mr. Belmont
College Composition 1
1 November, 2016
Argumentative
Ethics of Self Driving Cars Self-driving cars only been practical since the early 2000’s, but the need for a self-driving vehicle has existed since the first horse drawn cart. Many types of self driving vehicles exist, including the already mentioned car to large industrial mining machines and farm equipment. Since the self-driving car is now practical and already being tested on open roadways, the moral implications of autonomous cars are coming to light. One of these issues is who the computer in the car should be programmed to save, the driver and other occupants of the vehicle, or pedestrians and other drivers. Innocent pedestrians and other drivers should …show more content…
If a driver is not paying attention, and they most likely are not, it should be their fault, even if anyone else they injured or killed was also not paying attention. The extra responsibility will help the new drivers pay attention and watch the road instead of being distracted. There has already been an incident where a Tesla Motors test driver was killed by crashing into a semi-trailer because he was distracted by watching a Harry Potter movie on a portable DVD player. The auto pilot system failed to detect the semi pulling in front of it, and instead of braking while waiting for the semi to speed up, the car crashed into the protective bar under the trailer. The Tesla driver was killed instantly and the truck driver was fortunately unharmed. If the tesla driver was paying attention he could have braked for the semi and avoided the accident. This is just one of the many similar accidents that will happen in the future because computers are not perfect and will have glitches in their system, and the human operators will be lulled into a false sense of security …show more content…
While convenience is a major reason in the development of a self-driving vehicle, the biggest reason is increased road safety. Holding the drivers of self-driving cars responsible for all accidents will increase the amount of awareness they give to the road, instead of being distracted or even not paying attention at all. If they fail to pay attention it is there fault for wrecking, because computers are not perfect, and require human intervention to avoid most accidents. Allowing self-driving cars to save their occupants instead of others is a horrible mistake that will only get worse with