Risk Of Self-Dr. Caixiaoye Cai WRTG Professor Parkin

Risk Of Self Dr, Caixiaoye Cai WRTG Professor Parkin 13/April/2019 Risks of Self-Driving Cars

CAI Xiaoye Cai WRTG Professor Parkin 13/April/2019 Risks of Self-Driving Cars Among the hotly debated public spheres across the globe is one that is full of diversity as well as uncertainty; this is the road and transport arena that keeps growing every day. There are so many regulations in this arena because of environmental factors and several concerns such as road accidents, without these regulations then the safety of pedestrians and other road users would be at risk. In recent time, different states have come up with various measures and rules to curb road accidents. Numerous studies conducted have shown that most road accidents especially the fatal ones were preventable. Most of the times these accidents are attributed to driving while under the influence and unnecessary distractions such as phone calls.

Thus the self-driving technology is seen as a very promising concept that will ease road accidents as well as reduce environmental pollution through emissions. Most people expect that the introduction of these cars will ease the steady pressure from all the road hazards. Companies such as Google and Tesla have already hit the ground with the self-driving technology and are almost ready to take off. The main questions most people ask themselves is if they will be able to live up the expectations given the risks that are involved. The impacts of self-driving on peoples safety and environmental friendliness is overrated, looking at this in a broader scope, the risks that it poses to individuals privacy and cybersecurity is a source of concern.

The actual results may not be as appealing as it appears. Cybersecurity These days hacking has become a massive challenge to both individuals and organizations, this is because of the growth in the technology sector that has seen many hackers sharpening their skills and getting the opportunity to try them out. Almost all the systems today have secured all their private, confidential and sensitive information in cyberspaces, these means that anyone with hacking ability including terror groups can get access to this information. There is possible evidence to believe that the introduction of self-driving technology will pose a threat to cybersecurity. The autonomous vehicles will host significant computations which connect the car to the outside world, an event that exposes the technology to hacking.

The cars will depend on internet connectivity and external sensors to provide directions for valid and reliable functionality (Kim, Dong, Seung, and Jongin 865). The self-driven technology will have a computerized system that houses an interface with the outside world. With this being a very complex system and used by many people all over the globe, the risk of hacking is thereby increased. Psychopaths and people who bear the intention of hurting others may use this as an advantage to tamper with the system thus causing an accident. Most of these cars will be programmed in such a way that they detect traffic lights and react accordingly, but a hacker may alter it to deviate from the signals and respond opposite to how it should and therefore cause accidents that may endanger people’s lives.

Studies show that machine systems that have been subjected to tricks can be easily manipulated and used to cause harm. Researchers from the University of California clearly showed how hackers could activate or deactivate breaks through demonstration. (Diels 377). It is difficult to assume that hackers may not be able to penetrate this system because they usually infiltrate even government offices and the most secure organizations so it would be too oblivious to say that the self-driven technology will be any different more so with the fact that this technology will still be new and subject to so many improvements which will give hackers the loopholes that they need. According to Kim, Dong, Seung, and Jongin (865), it is not easy to ascertain that the system will be secure, this fact puts a setback on the steps that the government has undertaken to ensure that faced by hackers’ malpractices and malicious behaviors will not face this self-driving technology.

Software developers are so committed and work extra hard to seal any loophole that hackers may use to their advantage, on the other hand, hackers put everything they have in exploiting the weaknesses that the system has even if they have to create bugs for them to get into the system. The self-driving technology will develop a kind of battle between the developers and hackers given the developers will struggle to create a full proof system while the hackers will want to know how everything works in the system. Since the vehicles will rely heavily on sensors from outside, the government will have to be involved. With many countries lacking in capacity, coupled up with the desperation of terrorists and cybercriminals in causing trouble, self-driving technology can cause more harm than the good it was intended to and therefore generate more aggravation on roads and safety of drivers and pedestrians.

A Tesla driver once died while in a self-driving car, reports from the investigation concluded that the driver assumed that the car would make all the right decision, this goes to show that this technology cannot be relied upon. This goes to show that the adoption of this technology will be vulnerable. Some of these problems will provide hackers with the opportunity to infiltrate the system before all the issues have been adequately addressed. Many manufacturers may venture out into the business to developing automated cars to make more profit, with many manufacturers going into this business, the price of the cars may come down, this will force everyone to lower their, and they may end up manufacturing poor quality cars.

Energy use and Emissions All across the globe, everyone’s objective is to streamline traffic flow and enhance the environmental stability, this can only be done when congestion is reduced and the emissions from cars and machines are minimized. One of the main reasons why most people support self-driving technology is because it’s said to be able to reduce emissions. Automated vehicles will automatically reduce energy use and enhance the smooth flow of traffic; this is according to research that was conducted. (Gora and Inga 2010). Automated cars can interact with each other and drive very closely to one another while on the road; this is known as platooning. When the automated cars are close to one another the energy they consume is reduced because they tend to meet less resistance of air.

Also, the traffic systems can be easily controlled which leads to reduced road congestion. More research conducted indicates that self-driven technology may go against all set expectations when it comes to higher efficiency and minimization of energy and emissions. Even though the efficiency of the self-driven vehicles may help to reduce emissions, the results still lie with the way people may choose to use their cars. The more you use your car, the more carbon you emit into the environment. When new technologies come up, everyone is interested in trying it out; this will be the same with these new automated cars, many people will buy just for the sake of trying out new technology which in turn will lead to more carbon emissions.

With the possibility of driving your car while doing other things like going over the newspaper, this sets to excite more people than can be imagined (Fagnant and Kara 4). The elderly who cannot drive themselves may also be influenced to join the bandwagon, in the end, the increase in demand will lead to more cares on the road thereby increase the consumption of energy and in turn increase emissions. Elements such as eco-driving, platooning and the production of lighter cars that are expected to reduce the consumption of energy drastically may not work in reducing emissions since it is the utility that counts. In the future, cars may enhance their features or introduce new ones all together that may tend to consume more energy.

In an overview, the impacts of the new technology may range from zero to insignificant. Table 1.1 tends to show how different elements work for and against the reduction of energy consumption and emissions. In the table, the automated cars features’ tend to work against themselves; in turn, limit their possibility of reducing emissions and energy consumption. This clearly shows that with this product, people will ideally get less than they had bargained for. With global warming looming over our head, we cannot afford to introduce other things that will increase the possibility of environmental pollution other than to reduce it.

Table 1.1 Features/factors of automated cars Change in consumption energy Eco-driving -20% Congestion reduction -5% Platooning -25% Size of car -50% Avoidance of crash -20% Changed mobility services -20 Total -140% Increased car features +15% Higher highway speeds +30% New user groups +15% Travel cost reductions +60% Alternating fuels +25% Total +145 The self-driven cars may have the option of switching fuel although the possibility of an electric car is way better than that which is gas-powered. Many of the automakers will put more emphasis on the use of electrically charged cars because they are environmentally friendly and function much better. Having said that it is also clear o note that electric cars must have batteries and an electricity system that is not stored in space.

If the electricity is generated from a coal-fired power plant, then the emissions of the gases will go straight into the environment. The gasoline that will be used by the cars must be refined and processed which leads to more destruction of the air. (Wadud, Don and Paul 10). Even though both of these cars have emission, electric cars emissions are slightly lower than that of gas-powered vehicles. Automated cars may negatively affect the environment because of the many different factors that may be associated with them, for example, more factories coming up to produce these cars when a driver chooses to switch to the gas-powered mode, the automatically the emissions and energy consumption increases.

These days’ automakers are working towards manufacturing lighter cars that will go a long way to reduce the consumption of energy. Sadly, the production of these cars will require some materials such as car batteries and headlights. The bigger problem is that these materials are usually mined more in-depth into the ground. As shown in Figure 1.1 the mining destroys the environment. While the portion dug may be significant, only a small percentage of it consists of the needed rare materials such as lithium.

The remaining contents are dumped into the environment and sometimes they contain toxic substances that may affect people. The damage to the environment is vast than the end product that is anticipated. (Wadud, Don and Paul 13) Figure 1.1 Privacy Security and privacy are two things that have been a center of the debate; sometimes people claim that the government may breach their confidentiality while the government, on the other hand, say that it is part of security procedures. Many people bring this debate to surveillance and where the government should put a barrier to it. The looming aspect of privacy in regards to self-driven technology will be hard to tackle. This technology will require computations and some connections to the outside world; this means that the information of a person operating a self-driven car will have to be collected and stored.

Though the data is encrypted and no one can access it, the manufacturer can learn the driver’s information and habits from it. Though it is unethical for the manufacturer to share that information with anyone at any given point time. (Boeglin 171) When this technology is implemented many issues regarding privacy are going to crop up and everyone is set forth to bring an opinion of some sort. First world countries like the United States are considering putting up privacy laws that will ensure that everyone information is safe, although this step does not guarantee one on his privacy status (Lee 25). When it comes to national safety and security, the government usually overstep on the privacy of people, especially when there is an investigation being conducted.

This type of technology may end creating a bone of contentions between the authorities and the civil groups because the government may end up infringing on people rights to privacy and source out the information that they have from the manufacturers' servers in the name of national security and safety. Cybersecurity has provided a considerable threat that may see breaching of people’s privacy rights not only to conduct investigations but also to present evidence during persecution (Page and Norma 14). , but it’s clear that hackers cannot be stopped from achieving their destructive ends. This will provide the government with the task of delivering a full proof system that will protect its citizens from cybercrime that may come about as a result of this technology.

Self-driven technology has the potential to grow; this means that the situation will be fiercer than before and this may result in a breach of privacy in the name of security. As we embrace this new technology, we should also be ready for a debate that will never conclude. Conclusion The new self-driving technology is seen as a very concrete initiative that will take the world to another level, but it’s also clear that it is set to create risks that will in time undermine all its positivity. Criminals may take to their advantage the fact that the connectivity of this technology is with the outside world. With the increase in travel demand and mobility, the increase in emissions is way too high.

Environmental degradation is increased when manufacturers exploit the grounds in search of metals. The most disturbing fact about this technology is the breach to privacy, regardless of the intentions, collecting and storing someone’s personal information that may end up in anyone’s custody is an offense. This technology may not be an excellent choice to pursue because as of now global warming is a factor that we have to deal with and it would be unwise to continue degrading the environment.

References

• Boeglin, Jack. "The Costs of Self-Driving Cars: Reconciling Freedom and Privacy with Tort Liability in Autonomous Vehicle Regulation." Yale Journal of Law & Technology, vol. 17, 2015, p. 171.
• Diels, Cyriel and Jelte E. Bos. "Self-Driving Carsickness." Applied Ergonomics, vol. 53, 2016, pp. 377-385. doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2015.09.009.
• Fagnant, Daniel J. and Kara M. Kockelman. "The Travel and Environmental Implications of Shared Autonomous Vehicles, Using Agent-Based Model Scenarios." Transportation Research Part C, vol. 40, 2014, pp. 1-13. doi:10.1016/j.trc.2013.12.001.
• Gora, Paweł and Inga Rąb. "Traffic Models for Self-Driving Connected Cars." Transportation Research Procedia, vol. 14, 2016, pp. 123-130. doi:10.1016/j.trpro.2016.05.236.
• Kim, D., Baek, S., & Lim. "Measures for Automaker's Legal Risks from Security Threats in Connected Car Development Lifecycle." KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems, 2017, p. 865. doi:10.3837/tiis.2017.02.013.
• Lee, Chasel. "Grabbing the Wheel Early: Moving Forward on Cybersecurity and Privacy Protections for Driverless Cars." Federal Communications Law Journal, 2017, pp. 25-41.
• Wadud, Zia, Don MacKenzie, and Paul Leiby. "Help or Hindrance? The Travel, Energy and Carbon Impacts of Highly Automated Vehicles." Transportation Research Part A, vol. 86, 2016, pp. 1-18. doi:10.1016/j.tra.2015.12.001.
• Additional references as needed based on source material.