1. Autonomous Driving
1.1. Definition of Autonomous Driving
1.1.1. "Self-driving means the autonomous driving of a vehicle to a specific target in real traffic without the intervention of a human driver" (Daimler, 2017)
1.2. History of Autonomous Driving
1.2.1. Davinci's Self Propelled Cart 1500
1.2.2. Whitehead Torpedo 1868
1.2.3. First Autonomous car prototype in the 1990s
1.2.4. The Rise of Autonomous Car in 2010s
1.3. Levels of Autonomy
2. Ethical Dilemma
2.1. As vehicles become more and more autonomous, engineers have begun to think more about the ethical dilemmas needed to be answered before the vehicles can become fully autonomous. One of these questions, probably the most discussed one amongst them goes like this: "Imagine you're behind the wheel when your brakes fail. As you speed toward a crowded crosswalk, you're confronted with an impossible choice: veer right and mow down a large group of elderly people, or veer left into a woman pushing a stroller."(NBC News)
3. Impact
3.1. Economical Impact
3.1.1. Reduced Number of Jobs
3.1.1.1. Massive Job Cutting will take place with the rise of Autonomous Car. For example, taxi driver as one of the cost for a taxi company might be laid off and changed with a Self-Driving Cab
3.1.2. New Business Markets
3.1.2.1. The rise of Autonomous Driving will open up opportunities for new start-ups to create a new kind of business model or even a brand new market.
3.1.2.1.1. The emergence of autonomous Driving, and AI as a whole will force the generations to come to adapt to a future with more focus on ingenuity, innovation, as well as the humanistic sector. This because of the automatisation of several big industries world-wide.
3.1.3. Reduced Labor Cost
3.1.3.1. Autonomous car will result in the number of company changing their logistic policy in using a driver for delivery of goods and changed it with autonomous car which eliminate labor cost.
3.2. Enviromental Impact
3.2.1. Energy Consumption
3.2.1.1. Research has stated that the usage of an autonomous car might reduce the energy consumption by 20% or even increasing it by 200%. It all depends on the type of energy they will be using as the basis of the car itself (TIMES, 2016)
3.2.2. Pollution Scale
3.2.2.1. Pollution reduced due to better fuel efficiency
3.2.3. Reduces the need to widen roads
3.3. Social Impact
3.3.1. Change in Traffic Condition
3.3.1.1. Usage of Autonomous Car will result in the reduction of phantom traffic congestion according to research by Daniel Work, leader of University of Illinois Research Team (Technologyreview.com, 2017)
3.3.2. Safety
3.3.2.1. Accidents due to human error should be reduces significantly, leading to less accidents and less deaths and/or injuries
3.3.3. User-Friendly Driving Experience