Dangers of Self-Driving Vehicles

Driverless vehicles are no longer science fiction. They’re a reality that could hit the road in the next few years and become a standard feature in all vehicles by the middle of the century.

The appeal of self-driving cars is evident. They will improve the mobility of those who don’t (or can’t) currently drive, and they could minimize emissions thanks to reduced congestion. But there are also some unexpected dangers that could arise.

Driverless Cars Could Make Roads More Dangerous

Here are a few dangers of self-driving vehicles that you may not have thought of:

Road safety will worsen before getting better.

When both conventional vehicles and SDVs share the road during the transitional period to SDVs only, the risk of accidents for conventional vehicles could be elevated, according to an earlier study conducted by Sivak and Schoettle. They found that SDVs may not be able to avoid crashes that aren’t caused by drivers. It’s still hard to know exactly how long self-driving vehicles and conventional vehicles will share the road during the technological transition.

Hackers could highjack self-driving vehicles and control them remotely.