The pros and cons of automated vehicles. A TL;DR will be in the spoiler at the end. A study by the center of automotive research suggests that self driving vehicles could possibly eliminate 93% of the crashes attributed to human error. That is a staggering amount of lives saved considering there are on average 1.2 million fatal car accidents each year attributed to human error. That is the upside (or atleast the biggest upside) to AV. What is the downside you ask?? The millions of jobs supported by people having accidents. If cars don't crash as often, body shops wouldn't be required as often. It's easy to follow the line of jobs that would see significant cutbacks as well. Emergency services/equipment Highway safety equipment Towing/recovery services/equipment Traffic enforcement services/equipment Used vehicles Compliance professionals/investigators Court system infrastructure/processing Lawyers/legal services Insurers/insurance Construction Even auto manufacturing would see a 68% decline in output according to the study. There would Also be decreased need for professional drivers. What does all this add up to?? A decline in employment would mean a decline in income tax revenue, sales tax revenue, traffic enforcement, and vehicle registration. There is also a second round of impacts due to this driverless car. We would need fewer commodities such as steel, aluminum, precious metals, and oils. The federal, state and municipal bureaucracies that exist to serve the automobile would also likely get smaller. Ok now you are wondering. Ok Owned, you are just spewing out facts and not giving me numbers. According to the KPMG study, the automotive industry (manufacturers/suppliers/dealers) employs nearly 1.7 million people providing $500 billion in annual compensation, as well as accounting for about 3.5 percent of the total U.S. economy which is about the same as U.S. defense spending. A study by the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, claims suppliers produced $225.2 billion in industry shipments in 2012, accounting for nearly 4 percent of total U.S. manufacturing. The total employment of the auto parts industry (direct/indirect) was estimated at over 3.62 million jobs nationwide. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that there were 3.7 million professional drivers employed in 2014 with an average salary of $32,168. Over 1 million service technicians/mechanics/repairers were employed with an average salary of $40,765. All this combined turns into 10 million people. That's a lot of people who are affected by a changing market. Now I'm not saying all would lose their job but a large portion would. Ok Owned, but what about all the jobs it would create?? HOLD ONTO YOUR MAN NIPS. I'm getting there. There will be increased demand for software/electronics products/services. AVs would still need maintenance on the electrical end ,but not nearly as much as cars nowadays require. The job growth other than this is hard to say. I didn't mention this because I think it's a push. With less vehicles involved in accidents, less organs would be available for donation. One can only deduce that a staggering number of people will lose their job.Is this job lose necessary to become a more evolved and efficient world? Only time will tell. [spoiler] Pros: 90% reduction in fatal car accidents attributed to human error. Less injuries Less insurance claims Less Delays Increased productivity Cons: massive job displacement in several fields: body shops Auto manufacturing Emergency services/equipment Professional drivers Mechanics and technicians Highway safety equipment Towing/recovery services/equipment Traffic enforcement services/equipment Used vehicles Compliance professionals/investigators Court system infrastructure/processing Lawyers/legal services Insurers/insurance Construction Reduced need for certain commodities which impact federal and state jobs. [/spoiler] All thoughts and input are welcome.