The boring traditional driving is easy to make drivers tired, and even causes traffic accidents. The research and development of self-driving vehicles (SDVs) are committed to replacing human driving by improving safety, reliability, convenience and efficiency, so as to reduce the occurrence of traffic accidents and make “passengers” get a better experience. “The global traffic fatal risk was estimated as 17.4 per 100,000 in 2014 (WHO, 2015)” (Liu et al., 2019, p. 321). The potential of SDVs in saving people’s lives is noteworthy.
Road Safety
SDVs can liberate human drivers and reduce the incidence of traffic accidents. Human driving is always affected by some external factors, such as drinking, being in a bad mood, being flustered or talking on the phone. These factors may lead to drivers' distraction and traffic accidents. However, due to the driverless vehicle equipped with intelligent system, it can make timely intelligent response to traffic conditions, and is not affected by external factors. Therefore, driverless technology can reduce the traffic accidents caused by drivers' mistakes and greatly improve traffic safety. Papadoulis et al. (2019) found that 90% car accidents can be eliminated by virtue of SDVs. In an another study by Lari et al. (2015), “SDVs would not be vulnerable to these weaknesses, they could reduce or eliminate human error in the driving process and work towards preventing the annual 1.24 million deaths globally and 34,000 deaths in the United States from car accidents.” (p. 750).
Alleviated Traffic Congestion
Some causes of traffic congestion will be overcome by SDVs. The enhanced road safety and reduced car crashes suggest there will be less traffic congestion. SDVs can keep a consistent and safe distance between vehicles, thereby contributing to the reduction in the magnitude of stop-and-go waves that lead to traffic jams. SDVs can enhance the freeway weaving segment’s capacity. Tilg et al. (2018) examined two aspects of SDVs through a multi-class hybrid model, which are the decrement in reaction time and the adaptability to regulate lane change decision. Their study suggested that two aspects witnessed a remarkable impact on capacity. To be more specific, SDVs experience a smaller amount of reaction time, so that they often require fewer gaps during the process of lane changing and decrease the headways. Moreover, there is a non-linear increase in capacity involving the improved market penetration levels because of reduced reaction time (Tilg, Yang, & Menendez, 2018). Olia et al.(2018) found that cooperative automated vehicles could triple the capacity of merging freeway segment, whereas the autonomous automated vehicles only saw 10% improvement. This indicates that to establish the vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication and to promote cooperative SDVs are crucial.
Reduced Cost
Despite higher fixed costs because of costly software and hardware equipped, operating costs and travel time can decline (Simoni et al., 2019). Automated driving systems of SDVs can save the costs of car accidents, such as vehicle repair, medical bills and lost work time. The costs of insurance can also be reduced. Owing to no driver wages, SAVs costs would be reduced to lower than $1 per mile (Simoni et al., 2019). However, Simoni et al. (2019) argued that “it is not clear whether the benefits of increased accessibility and more efficient traffic flows will compensate for the cost of more trip-making and longer distances traveled” (p.182). This claim in part coincides with the results of another study that the use of SDVs can bring about a change in choices of destination - the increased travel by 9.6% to a more distant place via personal vehicles, yet preferring closer distances among all modes with a reduction of total travel-miles by 6.7% (Perrine et al. 2020). In addition, there will be a 53% reduction of airline revenues owing to the availability of SDVs (Perrine et al. 2020).
Improved Independence
Full automation avails people of greater independence and personal freedom. The availability of SDVs could provide people with disabilities such as the blind with self-sufficient capability, thus helping them to live a more independent and freer life. Brinkley et al. (2019) included 20 visually impaired participants in order to test the human-machine interface in SDVs. With the help of their prototype system, the visually impaired users experienced a decreased fear of operational failures, an enhanced desire to purchase it, an improved belief in its practicability, as well as an increased trust in SDV technology. Besides, the senior people can also benefit from SDVs, as they have convenient transportation and become easy to travel. Under such circumstances, people are more likely to travel more. Harb et al. (2018) tracked 13 subjects’ travel of using SDVs for 3 weeks, and found “sizable increases in vehicle-miles traveled and number of trips, with a more pronounced increase in trips made in the evening and for longer distances and a substantial proportion of ‘zero-occupancy’ vehicle-miles traveled” (p.1671). Ride-sharing SDVs will make costs of personal transportation fall, thus leading to greater affordability. Affordability of mobility will enhance the individual freedom and independence in the overall society.
Ecological Sustainability
Driverless vehicles contribute to green environmental protection and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Compared with traditional vehicles, SDVs have been improved and optimized in many aspects, which greatly improves the fuel efficiency. Moreover, some SDVs also use lithium batteries and other new energy as vehicle power, which greatly reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Significantly enhanced access to information via precision positioning and control, improved processing power, vehicle-to-other communication, and advanced sensors, promotes the decision-making ability of connected and automated vehicles and implements eco-driving maneuvers much skillfully than a person (Vahidi & Sciarretta, 2018). Compared with the previously static road information, the road with unprecedented access to information in highway driving can lead to 3% energy saving (Vahidi & Sciarretta, 2018). Even with low penetration rate,the mediating effect of connected and automated cars on traffic, can cause 20% savings in stop-and-go driving (Vahidi & Sciarretta, 2018). Stern et al. (2019) found that SDVs during stop-and-go traffic wave reduce vehicle emissions on a single-lane course even at lower market penetration levels, because the potential of SDVs in curbing traffic waves brought about smoother traffic flow. Their also suggested that 5% of SDVs in the vehicle fleet generated the same reduction in Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions as replacing roughly 75% of the vehicles with EVs (Stern et al., 2019).
Conclusion
SDVs have demonstrated the special benefits for driving experiences. First of all, SDVs could liberate us from human driving, which allows us to have more freedom and independence. People are often influenced or prohibited from driving by situational factors, such as low mood, phone calling, alcohol consumption etc. With the help of SDVs, people could overcome these circumstantial disabilities. Second, the use of SDVs promotes the road safety and relieves the traffic congestion in general, thus creating a safer and more convenient environment for people. It is safe to assume that SDVs will contribute to a more modern and advanced society. More importantly, SDVs can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, which appeals to more individuals and car companies that appeal to ecological ethics. To combat climate change is becoming an increasingly more significant task. In addition, SDVs also bring about economic benefits by saving the costs caused by car crashes, because of the enhanced safety.
References
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