Autonomous vehicles and road safety

Autonomous-driving technology is already in use by automakers like Tesla and other brands that are beginning to incorporate their own semi-autonomous technology into their own cars.

This may seem like a great idea that has some utility in its application, autonomous vehicles are nowhere near the awareness that humans have in judging road conditions and anticipating the unexpected while driving.

Proponents of self-driving vehicles can claim that autonomous technology can prevent car accidents, but this is not entirely the case, such a vehicle cannot eliminate the chances of a car accident 100% of the time.

Self-Driving Vehicles Aren’t Perfect

Allowing a computer to handle your driving is a scary idea, what if the autonomous-driving technology fails? Harsh weather conditions for example can greatly interfere with the vehicle’s sensors which can drastically decrease its autonomous driving potential.

In addition, if traffic signals are not working, there is a limited capacity for a computer to know when to stop and go, especially if a police officer is redirecting traffic, how can an autonomous system know what human signals mean?

Unpredictable Road Conditions

Autonomous-driving technology has merit in being a support or driver-aided feature, and not so much as a primary means of replacing a driver.

The major disadvantage of an autonomous computer system is that is lacks full-world awareness, this is a mental capacity that is reserved for human beings and not for machines.

Road conditions can be stable in one moment, and in the next second, they can drastically change. There can be debris on the road, deep pockets of water after heavy rain, and potholes that can escape the car’s sensors and cause an accident. Not to mention, road barriers, the ones you see just about everywhere, like these from plasticjersey.com.

Vehicles that have autonomous capability cannot possibly operate safely in all weather conditions, there is too much complex data to process and computers cannot calculate the unpredictable nature of the road. When you think about it if an accident does occur, will the fault be because of a negligent driver or a faulty autonomous-driving system? 

Responsible Driving Depends on You

If you are behind the wheel of a vehicle, how the vehicle behaves on the road is entirely up to you. The movement of the steering wheel responds in conjunction with what you observe in the road in front of you and while an autonomous system can perform the same function to a certain extent, it is just not the same, a computer can misread the information and even not be equipped to read every piece of data that it acquires from the road and can potentially contribute to an unwanted car accident that can result in severe bodily injury or worse. 

Filing a Claim with an Accident Attorney

Car accidents involving autonomous vehicles can be difficult to judge correctly. This is why there is controversy with the idea of autonomous cars replacing drivers. Who is responsible for the car accident? Is it the driver? The automaker or the software developer?

In fact, an experienced accident attorney can assist car accident victims with the exact guidance they need to win their case, like Murphy, an expert accident lawyer who can help you get the compensation you need and to make everything do justly.

Even if an autonomous vehicle was involved, a professional attorney can distinguish between the parties responsible for the accident, and the victims who are eligible for a bodily injury settlement in the form of financial compensation.  

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