On March 23, 2016 The Dallas Morning News published an editorial called "Don't be afraid of our self-driving-car future". The company Google has released 56 self-driving cars to test on the streets of Mountain View, CA, Austin, TX and Kirkland, WA. At first the idea of self-driving cars was a bit scary... actually a lot scary. The idea would take a lot of thinking about and getting use to, but overall it seems pretty great. With a car that can operate normally without anyone in control you can do a lot. A person can "get that time back to read, email, text or even snooze — all without breaking the law." That honestly sounds wonderful, especially because I hate driving.
A few pros of having a self-driving car: (1) Mass time savings from fewer cars stopping-and-going along the highway, (2) Mass fuel savings from those smoother starts and stops, (3) Speed-limit adherence from a computer-controlled engine. It is also possible that car insurance rates would fall, and how wouldn't that be a dream come true? If we have a computer-controlled car, then human error would be subtracted from the equation, meaning less worries for insurance companies. According to the editorial, "human error is responsible for 94 percent of our 33,000 annual traffic fatalities." Therefore, putting computers in control of the wheel is a great idea.
Even though some people are totally in love with this new idea of self-driving cars, others are not completely convinced yet. Some people do not believe that a computer can fully understand the concept of driving. Even with these doubts, Google’s goal is to have cars to market by the end of 2019. Will enough of us have enough confidence by then? The Dallas Morning News advice: " Just input your destination, sit back and relax. Let the future come to you."
