Technology in modern day is advancing in leaps and bounds, and one of the areas people are most interested in is transportation. People are constantly looking to make their commute faster, easier, and more fun. Safety is a main concern for many, and society is looking to create fatality-free roads. As such, driverless cars are the ultimate goal for our society. There are many pros and cons to such a thing, and the risks far outnumber the gain at least for the time being.

Many poeple argue that automated cars would be safer than a human driver. People are subject to risks such as distraction, drunk driving, and human error while machines are immune to such ailments. An automated car can safely navigate under certain conditions, and when a threat is apparent that the car cannot handle on its own, a human can take over. For several years, cars have been built with systems such as automatic brakes and other automated features that can assist the driver or fully take over the car. Traction control brakes sense when a car is sliding and stop it even if the person behind the wheel doesn't realize that they are in danger. With successful technology like this, people assume that making cars fully automatic would increase the safety. People would even get the chance to relax while in the car. Trips that formerly took a week or more could be made in days if the car could drive itself while the human driver slept. It would also be possible for people to do things such as work or watch television while in the car, things that previously would cause incredible danger.

While there are many benefits to fully automated cars, there are also risks that come with the technology. First of all, the technology does not even exist yet, and it is unclear when it will. For now, cars are only partially automated and fully automated cars would need a certain set of requirements to be met in order to function properly and safely. The amount of sensors needed to achieve full automation is astounding. It would take several different kinds of sensors including cameras, radar, and many more. Some of these need magnets or radio signals while on the road to function, so if an anomaly occured that put them out of commission, things could go terribly wrong. The cost of such things is incredibly high. The car in and of itself would cost much more than the same model without automation. Tax payers would be required to pay for installing magnets or other feedback technology on roads so the cars would have enough information to function properly, and people could fall into debt for the luxury of an automated car.

In the year 2016, automated cars are a dream that is far too dangerous and costly to pursue. Years in the future, it may be an innovation bringing safety and comfort to hudreds of people, but in the present it is impossible. The cost of installing the necessary technology for such cars to function would delve too far into taxpayers' pocketbooks to be truly profitable, and the technology would need replaced every few years anyway. If something were to malfunction in just one car, it could cause mass chaos and death or injury to potentially hundreds of people. At this point in time, the technology has too much risk to be possible in the near future.