Self-driving cars, also called autonomous vehicles (AVs), are on the way to becoming more common on our streets. They can potentially reduce the incidence of crashes, thereby saving lives. Since they are a new phenomenon, there are many unanswered questions relating to liability and safety issues. The hope is that when all the questions are answered, and the laws put into place, the rate of injuries will decline, and more lives will be saved since autonomous cars do not make human errors. In the future, traffic jams would never occur as traffic lights would be unnecessary. There are basically five levels of automation going from zero automation to full driving automation where the vehicle performs all safety driving functions and monitors road conditions for an entire trip. Read more...