Tesla’s Autopilot
Tesla is by far the biggest, most
lucrative company when it comes to creating electric cars. Tesla’s newest advancement to the automotive
industry is an autopilot feature on their Model S vehicle. This autopilot function will revolutionize
driving as we know it and will set the bar high for any other companies trying
to develop electric cars. Tesla has been
working on their autopilot function for a very long time, and they seem to be
on the verge of finishing up this revolutionary project. CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk believes that they
will have their autopilot up and running by October. Personally, I wonder how Tesla would be able to keep
their cars from swerving into other lanes and going out of control while in
autopilot mode. “Describing the system in March, Musk said it relied on
ultrasonic sensors that cover the area around the car to a distance of about 5
meters, as well as a forward camera and radar” (CIO.com).
Tesla believes that this new
state of the art technology is going to bring their company above and beyond. They
see it as a great opportunity to increase revenue in their business, and
provide their consumers with yet another amazing feature. It is honestly incredible what they have been
able to accomplish with their electric cars in a short amount of time. I think
that the autopilot function of Tesla’s cars can be seen as “cruise control on
steroids.” Radars and ultrasonic sensors are the type of technology that planes
have had for years now and Tesla strongly believes that they have the means to
bring the autopilot function down onto the ground. When speaking about this autopilot function,
Drew Phillips states, “It can attempt to keep the car in its lane and keep a set
distance between the Model S and the car in front by braking and accelerating
when appropriate” (AutoBlog). Having autopilot in cars could potentially
prevent so many accidents, and save tons of lives.
Personally, I think that
having an autopilot function in cars is a bad idea. It is not the sky, and cars travel much
closer to one another than planes do.
Especially with Tesla’s cars being electric, I feel that having an
autopilot function could be a huge problem in terms of being hacked. There are hackers everywhere nowadays, and I
believe that if cars are on autopilot, they are vulnerable to getting
hacked. If hacked into, drivers will
completely lose control of their cars and could be taken anywhere on the
road. Above all, I believe that no
machine or program can compare to the instincts of a person behind the wheel. I
would not feel safe having a car on autopilot when there is inclement weather,
or while traveling at fast speeds. While
I do think that having autopilot will increase the revenue of Tesla, I would
never take part in it myself.
You make good points about why autopilot is a bad idea. By law, we require people to get a driver's license, so our roads are safe. If cars have an autopilot function, I think people will make riskier decisions. Some people that don't have licenses will think they can get on the road because their cars can drive themselves. There will also be more multi-tasking and people won't be as aware of the road. This is a scary thought because it seems that technology has taken over our lives, and we will end up depending on it to do every simple task.
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