Would we be better off if all cars were self-driving?

[OtterMan68]

Yes, no more DUI, distracted driving, traffic jams, etc

No, too many pitfalls: hacks, outages, etc

Don't know

Updates

1 y

Any time I do long-distance driving, I wish there were self-driving cars

[MrOracle]

Eventually, yes.

But we won't get the majority of the safety until human driving is eliminated, because most accidents are either the result of humans being distracted or humans being angry or intentionally driving unsafely. Even if your self-driving car drives 500% better than you can, it won't necessarily save you from one idiot human who is driving 95 in a 30 or is swerving across multiple lanes or break-checking someone. Self-driving cars will eliminate that in the cars that have it, but if only some cars have it, then there will still be accidents, injuries, and even deaths.

I think a decade from now, most people will prefer to let the car do the work.

[HawkPerception]

Statistics show yes. But I don't think that people will be willing to give up that level of control any time soon. But I think it would be better for a number of reasons. You wouldn't have to worry about drunk driving anymore or texting while driving. You wouldn't have to worry about who's in the wrong anymore. No road rage. Everyone would basically be able to focus on other things when in vehicles. I think it's definitely the way of the future. If you want to drive yourself that would be more of a recreational activity and people would pay to do it recreationally.

[Drewtate]

Imagine how much they'd charge to update the software. Or if say the state you lived in wanted to tax you on how much travel you did in a year. Or how about if the state you lived in decided you have over used your travel allowance or decide you can not travel as your choosen destination is too far and just shut your vehicle down.

John Deer already has some of this technology, there are reports of farmers who maybe own or are paying off their John Deere tractor only to have John Deere shut them down remotely so they won't start over a missed payment or software update.

We are becoming a very over regulated soceity as it is, think China where crossing the street in the wrong place can result in a fine or loss of social credit points or in Canada where the government will shut down your bank accounts if you protest bad governance by those in power or financially supporting protests.

[MisterWack]

It would truly only work if we all have a self driving car that is effective and not destructive.

I would be best if we could implant a chip in every single driver’s brain: “Alcohol is bad, don’t drink it” also “Speeding is bad, don’t do it”. If we had an implant chip that made responsible drivers then we would fix the issue.

[RavVid]

We might think of ourselves as having a self driving car in the same way as we do own cars now.

However it could become a public transport system with us calling a self driving Uber and not needing a car from that point on.

[DrPepper12]

No more traffic jams, accidents or wasted time. Hell yes!

[Nikki1989]

It can't be any worse than it is now.

[Juxtapose]

Putting hackable components in a vehicle is one of the stupidest ideas in the world.

[Massageman]

Thank you!

[Massageman]

Any marginal improvements are grossly outweighed by the potential problems.