Name:
Date:
General Purpose: Persuasive communication
Specific Purpose: Public Speaking
Speech Title: Should self-driving cars be legal?
Audience Demographics Description: Fellow students
Introduction
Self-driving driving or autonomous cars do not require human intervention to control or operate them. The cars have inbuilt software and sensors that help navigate, control, and drive. Currently, there are no legally operating self-drive vehicles in the country; instead, we have semi-autonomous cars with varying degrees of automation to highly independent autonomous prototypes. Though still at the incubation stage, artificial intelligence makes it highly possible to transform the transport system (Boeglin 171) radically. Given the growing trends in technology companies and automakers, we soon could have level 4 and 5 self-driving cars in the market for sale (Maughan, 93). The purpose of this discussion is to answer the question of whether self-driving cars should be legalized. The cost-benefit analysis of a self-driving car is still hypothetical, given that we are yet to have them on our roads. It is imperative to acknowledge that the idea of self-driving cars is premature, oversold, and could result in more damage than benefits. I am opposed to the idea because of the uncertainty surrounding safety, equity, and environmental impact.
Self-driving Cars cannot replace humans.
Computer intelligence cannot be compared to human intelligence. After all, computer intelligence is developed by humans. Autonomous cans use computer intelligence to run; hence, creating autonomous cars is an attempt to eliminate the need for a human presence in cars’ control and operation. Yes, they could outperform humans in some aspects, but that does not generalize the idea that they can outsmart humans. Boeglin (171) noted that artificial intelligence has a lower than average understanding of the world and what goes around. Even with sound guiding principles for self-driving cars, perpetual challenges will always crop up. Automated reasoning is no match to human reasoning and therefore, cannot handle edge cases as humans do.
They are not safe because they can easily be hacked.
Cybersecurity remains a significant concern for artificial or computer intelligence every day. Computers are prone to hacking, and the same is certain with self-driving cars (Jafarnejad, 1). That fear or intrusion of being hacked while in a self-driving car presents a huge challenge to introducing autonomous cars. Big data hacking and the perpetual security lapses happen conventionally, which presents the question of; how will the automakers guarantee hack-proof self-driving cars? The same way computer networking and programming gurus are unable to guarantee hack-proof systems, autonomous cars stand to fail a similar test. Besides, the danger posed by self-driving cars is far worse and cannot be shrugged off. For instance, self-driving cars can be hacked, and destination changed for malicious reasons. They could breed and harbor sophisticated criminal cartels since they can easily be manipulated through hacking (Jafarnejad, 2).
Self-driving cars are not safe.
Safety is not a question of whether self-driving cars could do 99% of things right; instead, it is about that one thing it can’t do right. Autonomous cars rely on machine learning algorithms, which are difficult to test because they apply statistical techniques (Maughan, 93). Being nondeterministic, statistical techniques make it difficult to thoroughly screen and ascertain the safety of self-driving cars. The testing process is based on simulation, making it difficult for regulators to ascertain whether proper road safety thresholds are met. Given the high rate of accidental injuries and deaths on our roads, it is a primary concern on how these cars can simultaneously use our roads with humans (Browne 1). Not everybody is willing to embrace the autonomous car idea; hence the road standards before introducing self-driving cars need to be reviewed and adjusted.
Self-driving cars will degrade our environment.
Assuming the idea of introducing self-driving cars work, it will improve convenience, affordability, and accessibility of transport services. Consequently, more people will want to travel, significantly increasing the distance traveled each year (Maughan, 93). Given that the vehicles are highly likely to be fueled by gasoline, greenhouse emissions will skyrocket, resulting in climate changes.
Conclusion
Although technology has brought about significant benefits, one thing remains clear – it also comes with unintended costly consequences. Although it would improve transportation accessibility, availability, and affordability, introducing autonomous cars will definitely have far-reaching negative repercussions. The issues of safety, hacking, and environmental degradation through carbon emissions inform why self-driving cars should not be legalized. Nevertheless, the designers of autonomous cars want to replace human intelligence with computer intelligence, which lacks human capability and is doomed to fail.
Works Cited
Boeglin, Jack. “The costs of self-driving cars: reconciling freedom and privacy with tort liability in autonomous vehicle regulation.” Yale JL & Tech. 17, (2015): 171.
Browne, Brian A. “Self-driving cars: On the road to a new regulatory era.” Case W. Res. JL Tech. & Internet 8 (2017): 1.
Jafarnejad, Sasan, et al. “A car hacking experiment: When connectivity meets vulnerability.” 2015 IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps). IEEE, 2015.
Maughan, Tim. “No One’s Driving: Autonomous Vehicles Will Reshape Cities, but is Anyone Taking Control of How?.” Architectural Design 89.1 (2019): 92-99.