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Could Self-Driving Cars Reduce the Number of Auto Accidents?
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Auto Accidents

Imagine going out for happy hour with friends without the worry of appointing a designated driver. Imagine texting, eating, checking email, or even watching a movie while making the long commute home every day. Imagine never having to worry about other drivers on the road. Well, that dynamic may soon be upon us.

Google has been developing an automaton car for years, and it has long been assumed that the car would one day become widely available. But until Nissan Executive Vice President Andy Palmer announced the company’s plans to have self-driving cars on the market by 2020, few had dared to put a date on the availability of such cars. Palmer said that Nissan “will be ready to bring multiple affordable, energy efficient, fully autonomous-driving vehicles to the market by 2020.” He also said that by 2014, the Japanese-based company would build a testing ground to begin driving and monitoring the vehicles.

At the same presentation, Nissan also unveiled a prototype of the car, which uses a combination of lasers, cameras, and radars to monitor surrounding objects, road hazards, and traffic signals. Unlike the Google test cars, which feature a rotating sensor on the roof of the vehicle, Nissan’s sensors are built into the car itself. The presentation included a simulation of exiting the freeway and a fast swerve to avoid a test dummy that “jumped” into the road.

Legal Obstacles May Prove More Dicey Than Technological Ones

According to Palmer, Nissan and other companies who are developing self-driving cars anticipate that the greatest challenge will not be technological. Their computer systems are well-developed, and engineers expect both hardware and software will be ready to go by time of product release. Rather, the challenge is expected to come from lawmakers who may be reticent at the concept of driverless cars on the road. While several states have laws that allow automatic cars to make test drives on the roads, most states have no such law.

Really, the anticipated legal challenges seem somewhat ironic since these cars have been designed largely to provide safer road conditions. Most accidents are caused by human error, and an untold number are caused by the most preventable errors – driving while drunk or distracted. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 3,331 people were killed in accidents due to distracted driving in 2011, and 387,000 more were injured. Distractions include texting, using a phone, eating, reading a map, grooming, and similar activities. The risk from drunk drivers is even higher; the CDC reports that 10,228 people were killed in drunk driving accidents in 2010.

Given the high risk associated with irresponsible drivers, negative reactions to precision computerized driving seem out of place. As a 2010 article in The New York Times stated, “Robot drivers react faster than humans, have 360-degree perception and do not get distracted, sleepy or intoxicated…” Robot drivers also do not text their friends, brush their hair, or watch YouTube videos while driving. In fact, Google self-driving cars have a nearly impeccable driving record. They have driven 1,000 miles without any human control and 140,000 miles with only minor human adjustments. In all that time, only one car has been involved in an accident – when a human-driven car rear ended the Google car at a red light. Of course, adjustments are still needed to provide the utmost safety, and the computers in the autonomous cars must be immune to the crashes and viruses that often affect our personal computers.

Still, it seems the future is coming fast. Thirty years ago, no one would have expected the Internet to make such a broad global impact and the associated cultural changes. There is no doubt that engineers and technology experts will be able to adapt this technology to the automotive industry and revolutionize our physical highways as they have revolutionized the information highway. Perhaps the government will recognize the benefits these cars offer and bypass any legal roadblocks to the adoption of self-driving cars. As auto accident lawyers in Bronx, New York, we know the damage caused by reckless driving all too well, and any technological advance that can reduce such accidents is to be commended and helped along in whatever way possible.

About the author:
Joseph G. Macaluso is a personal injury lawyer practicing at the Bronx law firm of Macaluso & Fafinski, P.C. A graduate of Brooklyn Law School, Mr. Macaluso has been in private practice since 1990 with an exclusive focus on personal injury and medical malpractice. A member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, he has served on the Legislative Committee of this organization and is also a member of the Bronx County Bar Association and has served on the Board of Directors of Bronx Legal Services.