The concept of an autonomous vehicle is one that has been floating around for quite some time now, but it has only very recently turned into an actual possibility with all things having been considered and taken into account. Tesla is the biggest player in the field, but it is by no means the only one with numerous other car companies looking to increase the level of autonomous features that their vehicles possess.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there are quite a few serious problems that could be caused by self driving cars. The propensity for collisions is a significant issue in and of itself, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it is only the first of many issues that such cars can cause.
New research has shown that autonomous vehicles could make climate change even worse than might have been the case otherwise. If every single car in the world is made autonomous, this could create a level of emissions that would be greater than that of every single data center in the world combined.
This study was conducted by MIT, and it showed that if all of the over 1.2 billion cars in the world were made autonomous and driven for just one hour a day, this could result in carbon emissions skyrocketing in the near future. To put it one way, this would create more carbon emissions than the entire country of Argentina.
However, the researchers behind this study didn’t try to suggest that autonomous vehicles were too dangerous from a climate change perspective. Certain things like decarbonizing the electricity grid could do a lot to prevent such problems from occurring at a later date.
Making the chips running these machines more efficient would also be a solid option. It would ensure that less power ends up getting used, which would also result in carbon emissions declining considerably. These are steps that have to be taken before autonomous vehicles become the norm otherwise they will end up doing far too much harm.
Read next: Bill Gates Just Called Elon Musk Out for His Improbable Mars Fantasy
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there are quite a few serious problems that could be caused by self driving cars. The propensity for collisions is a significant issue in and of itself, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it is only the first of many issues that such cars can cause.
New research has shown that autonomous vehicles could make climate change even worse than might have been the case otherwise. If every single car in the world is made autonomous, this could create a level of emissions that would be greater than that of every single data center in the world combined.
This study was conducted by MIT, and it showed that if all of the over 1.2 billion cars in the world were made autonomous and driven for just one hour a day, this could result in carbon emissions skyrocketing in the near future. To put it one way, this would create more carbon emissions than the entire country of Argentina.
However, the researchers behind this study didn’t try to suggest that autonomous vehicles were too dangerous from a climate change perspective. Certain things like decarbonizing the electricity grid could do a lot to prevent such problems from occurring at a later date.
Making the chips running these machines more efficient would also be a solid option. It would ensure that less power ends up getting used, which would also result in carbon emissions declining considerably. These are steps that have to be taken before autonomous vehicles become the norm otherwise they will end up doing far too much harm.
Read next: Bill Gates Just Called Elon Musk Out for His Improbable Mars Fantasy
