Honestly, the idea of self-driving cars is something that I would welcome any day and at any time. And there is a good reason for that. There are many people who will think that because of our bad roads, such things will not work; well, that is where I disagree. Yeah, will there be a problem? Most likely, but I don’t feel these problems are enough to say that such a thing shouldn’t be utilized up here.
Off the top of my head, one major problem I can think of is rain and floods. While the car will most likely be built to handle rain, it might not be able to handle a flood. And if you live in a flood-prone area, and you end up driving through it, your car might pack up in the middle of the flood and lock you inside, leaving you stuck and unable to do a thing about it. And funny enough, I might even be wrong about this.
Here in Nigeria, we already have a lot of problems with regard to our road users. Besides them being bad and some being unmotorable, it’s already hard enough for humans to drive on many of them, and so I believe that it will be nigh impossible for automated cars to do it. It will get to a point where the computer will see a particular type of road and just get confused. So, it will stop, unable to go.
But then, there are actually good roads, you know? Roads that actually work. The only issue with them is speed, and many times, drivers drive like they are on kolos. Then, you also have road rage, and people feeling like the roads were built specifically for them. But I believe that with self-driving cars, all that will become a thing of the past.
These cars will be trained to drive at a specific speed and in a specific manner. They will be trained how to view the lines on the road, what to do when to cross, and when a vehicle is before you. They won’t overtake stupidly or do any stupid stunt just to get to their destination faster. If everyone uses a self-driving car, there will be fewer fights and beef on the road because the cars will finally be driven exactly how cars are meant to be driven.
And I believe this is possible, despite the limitations of our roads, because the manufacturers of these cars will optimize them for Nigerian roads. The majority of the cars currently on Nigerian roads are optimized for us, even though they were not built by Nigerian companies. Just like how Google Maps isn’t by a Nigerian company, yet when you use it in Nigeria, you see that it’s been optimized for Nigerians. It would be the same for self-driving cars.
They will be built in a way that the safety of the occupants of the car will be the top priority, and then, just for the sake of it, it won’t start or move if there is no one in the driver’s seat. Someone who will be monitoring the AI and making sure it’s working properly. So maybe yeah, if there happens to be an accident, you can blame the guy in the driver’s seat. It was his job to prevent it. Lol!
Watch My Engaging Stories on:
Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.
