THE IMPACT OF SELF-DRIVE CARS IN GHANA

It’s no secret that the number of self-driving cars has risen over the last decade. The idea of allowing your vehicle to perform manual operations for you with perfect accuracy is fantastic. Imagine being able to say to your car, “Drive me to Kumasi“, and it automatically begins the journey.

Or imagine setting your car to drive from Accra to Tumu when you can leave in the evening, sleep most of the way, and arrive in the morning? That’s what you get with self-drive cars.

WHAT IS A SELF-DRIVING CAR

A self-driving automobile (or a driverless car) is a vehicle that can sense its surroundings and operate autonomously. A driver is not necessary to use the vehicle, nor is a human passenger required to be there. A self-drive car can go anywhere a traditional car goes and do everything that an experienced human driver does.

ADVANTAGES OF SELF-DRIVING CARS

Self-drive cars are the future of the automotive industry. Every day, Immense progress is being made on them, with major car brands like Tesla spearheading such innovation and popular car brands like Toyota and Mercedes following suit. 

Due to proper efficiency in using such cars, research also shows self-drive cars will reduce oil consumption, further leading to lower gas emissions. With carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles being the principal constituent of greenhouse gases, switching to self-driving cars would help provide cleaner air to all of Ghana.

Apart from the benefit of much easier use, other advantages include:

• Complete elimination of stop-and-go traffic as vehicles would be adequately coordinated and in order.
• Improvement in fuel economy
• Noticeable increase in lane capacity
• Decrease in journey time

DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-DRIVING CARS

Even with the vast possible advantages that the Self-drive vehicle presents to the Ghanaian society, a study published in the Perception of autonomous vehicles – A Ghanaian perspective shows the most significant concern of people in the automotive industry is safety.

The Ghanaian populace, in general, still are unenthusiastic about safely depending on such technology to transport them on their daily journeys.

Another hindrance to the national enactment of self-drive cars is the current condition of some public routes around the country. While most of the national routes in the Ghanaian road network system are good, users might have difficulty using self-driving cars on bad roads.

Major changes would have to be made to such routes to secure the safety of passengers in their self-driving journey.