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The student news site of Colonia High School

The Declaration

The student news site of Colonia High School

The Declaration

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How safe are the newer self-driving cars?

Every year there are new models of cars that seem to be more safer. However, when we really look into the cars, how safe are self-driving cars? 
Customer+may+need+to+educate+themselves+of+all+features+of+self-driving+cars.+
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Customer may need to educate themselves of all features of self-driving cars.

Every year there are new models of cars that seem to be more safer. However, when we really look into the cars, how safe are self-driving cars? 

The First Self-Driving Car

Tesla may have been the company that began the popularity of the feature but it was not the first design. Believe it or not, the first car appeared in 1986. Ernst Dickmanns released a driverless Mercedes onto the roads of Europe. For most of his life, Dickmanns spent his time analyzing the trajectories spaceships take off and when they would reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. From this, he taught himself how to build a functional car and advance it into something better. 

Tesla’s Safety on Self Driving Cars

Tesla is the company that blew up the self-driving features. When Tesla began to announce that its new model will have a feature called autopilot, people were suspicious and had many questions. Is it truly safe? What does this feature mean? When the Model 3, there were many problems with the car not involving the self-driving feature. The company had lost $700 million within the first quarter of the releases. The car that is suppose to bring electric vehicles to a stop, caused production problems that delayed its ability to make enough cars. Elon Musk CEO of Tesla  stated, “This was the most difficult logistics problem I have ever seen…” After the first year struggle ended,  the Tesla Model 3 started to have better feedback from the cars. 

Statistics On Newer Model Cars

As soon as Tesla released the car, companies such as Nissan and Toyota, designed their own car to become self-driving. When Autopilot is engaged, Teslas are less likely to get into crashes, signaling that human drivers may benefit from an artificial intelligence safety boost. We know Teslas are allegedly safe, but what about other autonomous cars. When looking at human-controlled cars, within the United States, there is approximately one death for every 100 million miles driven. Cars with self-driving capabilities are at an increasing reality, and that’s likely to only grow. Self-driving cars are demonstrating to be very safe in lowering car accident rates, but they’re not foolproof.

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Self Opinions

The only way to answer the question of how safe is the newer self-driving car is based on the way society defines safe. The idea of putting your life in the hands of a camera and a car is a daunting one. Even if it may be a safer way. If I were to choose between a human-controlled car and a self-driving car, I would choose a self-driving car. This decision was chosen due to the fact that many other self-driving cars have other features that make the car safer. Some features include senors for the person’s blind spots and better engines. 

 

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About the Contributor
Shikha Patel, Reporter
Shikha Patel is a fifteen-year-old sophomore at Colonia High School. She is the younger sibling of a college student. Patel has been playing on the Colonia High School tennis teams since she was a freshman and hopes to advance in the team. She hopes to join many more clubs and activities within her high school years. In the future, Patel sees herself working in the medical field more specifically pharmacy. Besides tennis, she has been dancing for 2 years and hopes to participate in competitive dancing. Patel loves to spend time with family and friends. She also loves to travel the world and has traveled throughout Europe and ten other countries.  However, she hopes to travel to Australia and different islands in the future. When it comes to entertainment, Patel loves the show The 100. She is excited to be apart of The Declaration staff and to see what the future holds for her.      

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How safe are the newer self-driving cars?