Cruise, Waymo, Pony and Zoox.

You’ve probably never heard of these companies.

But soon enough, some — perhaps all — will be household names.

Self-driving cars, or autonomous vehicles, are coming. And they’re going to be here likely far sooner than most people expect.

Some people love the idea. But I’m guessing that far more do not or, at the very least, are apprehensive.

And I get it.

People like control. Some have trust issues with new technology. Others vehemently oppose electric vehicles for logical (and sometimes not so logical) reasons.

But I’m going to argue why AV’s are a good idea. And the argument is a simple one:

Us.

Based on data from 2021, the main causes of fatal car accidents were drunk driving (31%), speed (28%), and distracted driving (9%).

Assuming some overlap — some drunk drivers were probably speeding, for example — it’s safe to say that roughly half of all fatal car crashes were directly caused by the driver.

Autonomous vehicles will be programmed to follow the speed limit, don’t consume alcohol, and can’t be distracted.

Introducing self-driving cars will prevent half of all car accidents simply by removing the human element.

Will there be issues? Of course. No technology is perfect. But regardless of what issues may arise, the roads will be far safer with fewer humans at the wheel.