Gabriel Romero

WRTG 3030
Literature Review

Advancements of Vehicles and Their Impacts on Society - A Literature Review

Introduction
The term “vehicle” or “automobile” will be used here to mainly describe cars;
trucks and other similar vehiclular modes of transportation follow suit. With that being
said, it would not be too far fetched to say that such vehicles today have most likely
evolved to go far beyond what was likely ever expected of them. From the first jumbled,
inefficient engines to today’s electric cars and everything in between, automobiles
continue to make not only huge, but necessary technological advancements. Motor
vehicles like cars, trucks, and so forth are one of the largest forms of transportation in
the world as they crowd city streets across the world every day. Nonetheless, they can
often be thought of as a necessity. Until something groundbreaking is able to change
the way we use our roads to go from point A to point B, cars will be around for years to
come. Something this common however cannot exist in such an abundant amount in
the world’s most thriving countries and cities without having extremely large and
noticeable impacts on society. And although there are many positive impacts, there is
no shortage of negative impacts. Thus it is safe to say modern day advancements in the
automobile industry affect our day to day lives more than we may realize. This review
will focus on why technological advancements in the automobile industry are so
important, the difficulties we face when attempting to improve these advancements, as
well as possible solutions to these difficulties.

The importance of advancements in the automobile industry

As alluded to previously, the automobile business is such a large industry that

humans are largely and directly affected in multiple ways. Only recently as a society
have we (for the most part) accepted the fact that our use of combustion vehicles has
had a profound negative affect on our planet’s atmosphere. In fact, the environmental
effects are such a major concern, that many governments are calling for regulations
regarding pollution due to these forms of transportation. The Clean Air Act acts as a
great example of this. Since it was put in place, it has acted as a backbone for the EPA
to write many regulations regarding air pollutants. As stated on the website for the
Union of Concerned Scientists, “Collectively, cars and trucks account for nearly one-fifth
of all US emissions” (Car Emissions and Global Warming). Yet, the article goes on to
mention how the majority of this pollution comes directly from our exhaust pipes. This
implies that with better technology to control what is released into our atmosphere
nearly 19 pounds of CO2 and similar damaging gases of pollution per gallon of gas
could be prevented from exiting our vehicles (Car Emissions and Global Warming). This
goes to show the possible benefits technological advancements on low emitting
vehicles, and more specifically electric vehicles can have on the efforts to fight the
negative effects on our environment. This is especially key since much of this emission
regulating technology is already on the road today. Not having to emit gases that are
such a danger to our atmosphere is a huge plus to the world we live in and thus should
be considered a great importance to our future planet.
Moreover, our automobiles are capable of impacting us in a more direct and up-
front manner; car accidents. According to the National Safety Council it was estimated
that in 2017 there was about 40,000 vehicle related accidents (Vehicle Deaths
Estimated). Yet even more shocking, the article states that this number has been a
trend over the last three years as well. On a side note, one must keep in mind that this
does not include vehicle related injuries that did not result in death. Whether the cause
be due to intoxicated drivers, freak accidents, animals, or careless/unsafe driving, these
deaths can be limited by breakthroughs in technology. With advancements in the area
of self driving cars, the total number of annual accidents is likely going to shrink.
According to The Franklin Institute, two of the most successful processes of self driving
vehicles by Google and Tesla respectively involve technology that are based on light
waves and high-tech camera sensors (The Science of Self-Driving Cars). It is hopeful
that these technologies can be improved enough to supplement (not replace) our basic
human reaction times.

Difficulties of advancing automobile technology

With so many combustion vehicles already on the road, it will be difficult to get all
the owners to convert to electric or more efficient vehicles. Especially since most
modern day combustion vehicles are expected to last many years into the future. It is
very convenient for a new combustion vehicle owner to stick with what is already under
contract. Likewise, the high price of automobiles implies that many owners recently
dubbed “new” owners will not be on the lookout for a new car any time soon. One could
argue that our governments could make more strict regulations to help get these
vehicles off the road. However, this often takes time. And furthermore, the idea of
making combustion vehicles illegal is far shot and could be considered unfair unless
assistance is to be provided by the government when purchasing electric/highly-efficient
vehicles. These are all some often unexpected political issues that also come into play
when speaking about converting to more efficient vehicles.
Another difficult aspect of using modern electric vehicles, is the inconvenience of
charging. Whereas with combustion vehicles you can simply fill up in a matter of
minutes, charging an electric car often takes far longer depending on the power source
of the car. Also, charging stations are not yet as publicly abundant as gas stations are,
and installing charging stations at home can often be slow, expensive, and/or time
consuming. Even some of the strongest chargers put out by Tesla, such as the publicly
available “Supercharger” can take over 30 minutes to charge the battery. As stated on
their website, “On average, drivers Supercharge for about 30 minutes before driving on”
(Charging Your Car). This implies that some users, likely those who have used the
majority of their battery, may spend even longer at the charging stations. This is surely a
topic that needs to be improved in order for the electric vehicle to take over.
In terms of the self-driving vehicle, it is unlikely that human nature will allow their
lives to be in the hands of an artificial intelligence that is not highly trustable. Even the
technology that is being developed now has a large margin of error. Relying on radar
waves and high-tech cameras means that your life will be in the hands of the probability
of this technology having low error. A technology that naturally has large room for error.
Although this technology is helpful, further research needs to be done.

Possible Solutions

Some solutions to the inconvenience of charging electric cars are already in

progress and being perfected. Tesla, one of the more popular makers of electric
vehicles, already has in place what is known as regenerative braking. This is a process
which allows certain percentages of kinetic and potential energy to be converted into
battery life to further the total mileage available for the user to drive before a recharge is
needed (these energies are often not conserved in combustion vehicles). To be clear,
kinetic energy is the energy obtained when a body is put in motion. Or as Tesla
describes it in plain words, “Any time your car slows down the kinetic energy stored in
the vehicle has to go somewhere'' (The Magic of Tesla). The basic idea behind
regenerative braking to put this energy towards extending the cars total drive range.
Furthermore, another possible solution to extending the total drive range of
electric vehicles may be to swap out a drained battery for one that is already charged.
This technology can definitely make the electric car user’s life easier if perfected to the
point where it can be considered an easy and fast process. This is especially true since
the driver or user would not need to be anywhere remotely close to a populated area to
reach a charging station or outlet and has an extra battery on hand. With that being
said, swapping out a cars battery would likely be considerably faster than waiting for the
already drained battery to charge. Furthermore, charging stations already in place, and
of course charging stations that are yet to be built, could have readily available charged
batteries on hand. Of course the details of how this would need to be managed would
have to be worked out, it may still be an idea that could be very successful.
As far as assisted driving goes, the self-driving technology that is beginning to be
incorporated into automobiles is one that is not meant to be relied on one hundred
percent by the driver. At least not yet. However, with many makers focusing on these
types of technologies and qualities, it is the hope that one day these tools can be
powerful enough to efficiently and effectively avoid accidents by acting before the
person controlling the vehicle can. With technologies relying on light waves, (as
mentioned earlier) it is within reason to consider that a well put together self-driving
system would actually perform better in many circumstances than a human driver. Even
more so with a driver that is distracted.

Conclusions

This literature review serves as an informative writing on the impacts automobiles

have in many people's day-to-day lives. We live in a world which is now dominated by
vehicular transportation. Automobiles impact the populations across the world in a way
that cannot be ignored. How society intends to handle this situation is unclear yet
hopeful. The impacts transportation systems have already had on our planet is not
unclear. It is important we continue to expand our knowledge on the topic and solve our
ongoing conditions. Above all else, we need to continue to force our everyday
transportation systems to help us more than hurt us.

Work Cited

“Car Emissions and Global Warming.” Union of Concerned Scientists,

www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/car-emissions-and-global-warming.
“Laws & Regulations.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 2 Apr. 2019,
www.epa.gov/laws-regulations.

“On The Road.” Fatality Estimates, National Safety Council, www.nsc.org/road-

safety/safety-topics/fatality-estimates.

“Preliminary Estimates.” Injury Facts, injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-

vehicle/overview/preliminary-estimates/.

“The Magic of Tesla Roadster Regenerative Braking.” Tesla, Inc, Tesla, 2 July 2010,
www.tesla.com/BLOG/magic-tesla-roadster-regenerative-braking.

“The Science of Self-Driving Cars.” The Franklin Institute, 10 Aug. 2016,

www.fi.edu/science-of-selfdriving-cars.

“Charging Your Car.” Tesla, Inc, 20 Feb. 2019, www.tesla.com/support/charging.