Google, however, wants more than that: it wants to wants to radically and fundamentally transform<\/a> the very core of the automobile. The defining element in Google\u2019s vision is that its goal is to rapidly integrate the self-driving feature into every car, while BMW, Mercedes, and other car manufacturers have been pioneering software in cars that will be continuously developed until the cars gradually become autonomous. These companies have been testing cars that are intended to drive on the road along with regular, human-guided cars, which Chris Urmson, the head of the self-driving car project at Google, asserted in his TED talk<\/a> is tantamount to believing that, “If I work really hard at jumping, one day I’ll just be able to fly!\u201d Another risk with gradual improvement models is that people may assume cars have safety and automated features that they do not actually have,\u00a0which can be extremely dangerous on the road. This conservative attitude is likely to reduce accidents, though, as flaws are discovered and fixed early – not after they cause accidents.<\/p>\n What else will change with the advent of autonomous cars? Plenty. Traffic is another mainstay of vehicular life that may become obsolete; Google\u2019s computers will manipulate a vast network of cars, guiding cars onto the most efficient routes. Bottlenecking would also be a thing of the past. Disabled, elderly, intoxicated, and unlicensed people could travel easily. Ridesharing would become<\/a> much more popular (90% of our cars\u2019 lifetimes are spent parked; if a car could drive itself to different people and owners, it will be easy to share a car among groups). Urban sprawl will increase. Parking spaces will become outdated.<\/p>\n The drastic decrease in auto accidents is significant, too. 81% of all car accidents are caused<\/a> by human error, which would be eliminated. One study<\/a> estimates that if 90% of United States vehicles were autonomous, \u201c4.2 million accidents could be avoided, saving 21,700 lives and $450 billion in related costs.\u201d In the United Kingdom, the KPMG estimates<\/a> that self-driving cars will lead to 2,500 fewer deaths between 2014 and 2030. A frequent fear is that the autonomous car will cause its own accidents. But safety is a priority, at least for Google: Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal<\/em> wrote<\/a> of his trip in a Google car that \u201cThe car we rode in did not strike me as dangerous. It struck me as cautious. It drove slowly and deliberately, and I got the impression that it\u2019s more likely to annoy other drivers than to harm them.\u201d The maximum speed for Google\u2019s car is 25 mph, which according to Urmson, covers the driving speed in most cities.<\/p>\n So when will it be? As of September 2015, there are only four states that allow<\/a> self-driving car use \u2013 Florida, Michigan, California, and Nevada, as well as Washington, D.C. As self-driving cars begin to enter the roads and public consciousness, self-driving vehicle technology will become a hotly debated issue and more states will approve them. There is already much discussion on the topic, and 99 pages of legal analysis can be found here<\/a> (pdf).<\/p>\n![\"google](\"http:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/files\/2015\/09\/google-car-1-pd-300x242.jpg\")
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