11/16 Essay (last one): Read the ~8 minute article “The Data Science Behind Self-Driving Cars” (hat tip to Connor). In 1-2 paragraphs, write what you think (or know) are the broad implications for society from the development and adoption of self-driving vehicle technology. What are the positive aspects, the not so positive, and the important considerations (e.g., ethical)? You have until 10:05.

The emergence of Self-driving car is the result of the development of artificial intelligence and the technique of data collection. If it is broadly implicated in society, the number traffic accidents will decrease and more lives will be saved. Also, people’s efficiency will improve for they can utilize their time on the way. However, it still has some problems.

Firstly, if self-driving is broadly used, some job opportunities like transport truck drivers and taxi drivers will gradually disappear, creating unemployment.

Secondly, it is still a problem for people to accept the machines to work instead of them. Many people tend to have their safety under their own control, but not the machines. It is extremely hard for people to trust the self-driving system completely even if they know that the system is carefully designed and very safe in most cases, because once the system breaks down, it will cause terrible results. When a new technology is introduced, most people tend to believe in themselves other than the technology.

Thirdly, it is extremely important to keep human control systems in the car because people should be allowed to take control of the car at any time they want, showing their dominance to the car. It is true that the reaction speed of human is slower than the machine, but human brains are much more complicated than the self-driving system. The system cannot satisfy people every time, making it important to let people take charge of the car during special time.

Fourth, if human force can be completely replaced in the future after the self-driving system is introduced int he society, the necessity of learning to drive will cause many discussions. How does the machine deal with road conflicts? Will it overtake others cars if the driver is in a hurry? If there is an accident, who will take responsibility since nobody drives the car? Many questions are worth discussing.