AUTONOMOUS CARS

Is it ethical to implement self-driving cars if doing so results in the elimination of jobs in
the transportation industry?
Yes, it is ethical. It is true that the implementation of the autonomous or self-driving vehicles
will eliminate over ten million jobs in the transport industry. However, the implementation will
largely solve different problems in our environment, reduce the number of annual deaths by tens
of thousands, reduce traffic in towns with higher productivity, and produce entirely new
businesses that cannot be imagined from the present vantage point.
The environmental effects of the self-driving vehicles will potentially reduce the global
warming trend and radically decrease the dependence on the fossil fuels (Todd, 2015). SUVs,
Passenger cars, minivans and pickup trucks constitute about 17.6% emission of greenhouse
gases. Therefore, a 90% decrease in the number of vehicles operating on roads may reduce the
overall gas emissions by approximately 15.9% (Kanter, 2014). The self-driving vehicles are
expected to be electric driven, hence virtual elimination of 134 billion gasoline cars used every
year in the United States alone. Also, the recycling of over 242 million cars will reduce the
amount of substantial resources required, decreasing the surplus raw materials needed for mining
(Kanter, 2014).
However, the predicted benefits may be far much lesser than the costs implications. First,
the autonomous cars will be subject to system errors. This may be dangerous to both road users
and vehicle occupants. Every critical constituent will be required to meet standards such as large
installation, manufacturing, testing, and maintenance and repair standards which are similar to
those of an aircraft, and therefore, it is highly expensive. The operation of the self-driving
vehicles will need to be monitored through individual mapping and navigation services which
are another tough expense (Todd, 2015). In case, the systems fail, the crash may be far much
worse than the manual vehicles.

Autonomous cars
References
Kanter, Z. (2014). How the Uber’s autonomous cars will destroy 10 million jobs and reshape the
economy by 2025.
Todd, L. (2015). Self-driving Car implementation and predictions Implications for Transport
Planning. P, 4-5