Essay on Driverless Cars and Related Challenges

One challenge that self-driving cars might pose to Jiffy Lube employees is communication when the cars pull in for maintenance. When vehicles operate without human intervention, the employees might not be able to get important information that allows them to provide appropriate maintenance service. To surmount the communication challenge, Jiffy Lube can invest, and train its employees, in communication technologies and information systems that gather important information about self-driving cars, such as the miles covered, mechanical faults and so on. Jiffy Lube will also have to find a way of integrating its information systems with those of the self-driving cars, or their manufacturers. Recently, we have seen motorists fitting their vehicles with wireless internet connections, which help in feeding information from other road users and the transport facilities. For instance, wireless internet connections fitted on cars have helped to warn motorists overtaking other cars if a head-on collision with another road user is imminent. The rise of the connected car has radically transformed how drivers relate to their cars, which, in turn, has paved the way for self-driving vehicles. The traditional cars, too, can use the wireless connection to attain some degree of autonomy. Some Mercedes-Benz models have advanced aids that make them autonomous to a certain extent. The advanced aids make it possible for drivers trying to navigate heavy traffic to move at speed so low they can leave the steering, braking and acceleration tasks to the car itself.

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Advanced vehicle aids employ cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors that monitor the vehicles environment, collect information, pass it to the information system for processing and subsequent action. This information ends up stored in a database, and studying it can help one solve certain problems. For instance, Jiffy Lube employees can go through the information collected by the radar and ultrasonic sensors to ascertain mechanical issues that deserve prompt attention. The self-driving car also has features that smart phones can access, which means Jiffy Lube employees can use their phones to monitor autonomous vehicles and determine when they need service. Using smartphone apps, Jiffy Lube employees can monitor an autonomous cars oil after they have changed it, which allows them to know the next time the car will need an oil change. With the knowledge of when a self-driving car will require an oil change, a Jiffy Lube employee will not have communication difficulties when the car pulls up for maintenance. A further look at the influence of mobile telecoms on motoring reveals many opportunities for Jiffy Lube to solve the communication problem that self-driving cars pose. Analysts have identified various categories of the ways in which mobile telecoms have transformed motoring (Yang, Cheng, Hsu, Gan and Lin, p.2878). In one category, mobile networks facilitate a cars access to a service and an application. The car can access the service or application through its systems, or devices the driver carries - these devices have a wireless or cable connection with the car. In another category, a car generates data that helps provide certain services, such as warning a motorist of the need to replace a certain car part. A third category comprises smart infrastructure that helps multiple vehicles communicate and enhance the smoothness and safety of traffic flow. The smart infrastructure includes, among others, data centers and roadside sensors.

As seen earlier, Jiffy Lube can leverage the first category to solve the communication challenge. The firm can provide its employees with mobile devices - perhaps smart phones - that have a wireless connection to the driverless car. The firm should then train its employees on using the wireless devices to track the driverless cars and keep information that allows them to know what to do when the cars pull up at Jiffy Lube outlets. Jiffy Lube can also leverage the second category of the ways mobile telecoms have changed motoring. It can enter into a joint venture with the manufacturers of the driverless cars, which would allow them to provide input during the design of the driverless cars. During the design of the driverless cars, Jiffy Lube can ensure that the cars have systems for generating data about the car, such as the time since it last had an oil change. In addition, Jiffy Lube should also have agreements with the owners of the driverless cars to enable it to access the data the car is generating. Jiffy Lube can then use the data to develop a schedule of when a driverless car falls due for an oil change and other maintenance services. If Jiffy Lube finds it difficult to enter into joint agreements with the manufacturers of driverless cars, it can leverage the third category of ways in which mobile telecoms have transformed motoring. Smart infrastructure that helps vehicles communicate can help yield substantive, reliable data. If vehicles are always on constant communication to ensure smooth and safe traffic flow, it means they probably ply the same route, and with the advent of driverless cars, it will mean the vehicles are of the same age and will seek maintenance services at about the same time.

Jiffy Lube can introduce a requirement that all driverless cars seeking maintenance services at its outlets have systems for constant communication with other driverless vehicles in the routes the frequently ply. The company can then find a way of transmitting the data whenever there is communication between driverless cars that seek maintenance services at its outlets. For instance, it can fit the driverless cars with devices that transmit data into a central database whenever there is communication between driverless cars. To capitalize on the communication between driverless cars, Jiffy Lube will also have to build data centers and train its employees to run them; the devices fitted on driverless cars will transmit data into these centers. By looking at the data transmitted from communication between driverless cars, Jiffy Lube technicians will be able to figure the service a driverless car needs. For instance, take the case where two driverless cars bought at the same time get their service at Jiffy Lube. Let us also assume that the two cars ply the same route, and on most occasions, they are always on that route at about the same time. If Jiffy Lube fits these cars with devices that transmit data on inter-vehicle communication to its data centers, one can go through the data and tell when one car requires an oil change. Let us assume further that an oil change occurs shortly after 100 days following the last oil change. If one of the two vehicles shows up at a Jiffy Lube outlet within a short period after the elapse of 100 days following its last oil change, technicians will just look at the information at the data center and know that they need to change the oil.

Using data collected from driverless vehicles poses another challenge, though. Jiffy Lube will be monitoring what driverless cars do to have the information on what service to give whenever the cars show up at its outlets. If someone uses a driverless car to run domestic errands, and the car gets maintenance services at Jiffy Lube, there will be a digital trail of their lifestyle at Jiffy Lubes data centers. The constant monitoring of the driverless cars results in privacy concerns among their users, which exposes auto service operators serving driverless to potential lawsuits on violating consumer privacy. To address the challenge of potential lawsuits, Jiffy Lube will have to enter binding legal agreements with the owners of the driverless cars; these agreements will have to restrict the use of driverless cars data to figuring how to service them once they pull up at Jiffy Lubes outlets. In addition, the legal agreements should provide recourse for the owners of driverless cars in the event there is violation of the restrictions on the use of data collected from driverless cars. Besides signing agreements with the owners of the driverless cars, Jiffy Lube should also ensure its employees have the incentive to observe the restrictions on the use of the driverless car data for other uses apart from figuring the kind of maintenance service to provide. One way of providing incentives for the employees to avoid using car data for other purposes is to introduce stiff penalties for noncompliance. Jiffy Lube can also assign the responsibility for certain driverless cars to particular individuals, which ensures that in the event there is unauthorized use of a driverless cars data, it is easy to track down the person responsible for the data breach. If Jiffy Lube employees know that it will be easy to track them if they use driverless car data in unauthorized ways, there might not have the incentive to disregard the restrictions imposed by the agreement between the company and the owners of driverless cars.

The other challenge is the liability for accidents and other unfortunate incidents that result from the maintenance service provided by Jiffy Lubes technicians. As seen in the preceding sections, Jiffy Lubes technicians will be relying on data collected from the driverless cars movements to figure the services to provide when the driverless cars pull up at its outlets. While data is a useful component of the process of providing maintenance service to the driverless cars, the judgment one makes using the data is more important compared to the data itself. A technician might reach the wrong conclusion on the type of maintenance service to give a vehicle, making the vehicle get involved in accidents thereafter. Owners of driverless cars might hold Jiffy Lube responsible for accidents resulting from the advice its technicians give. As such, it is important for Jiffy Lube to train its technicians on how to use the driverless car data to arrive at appropriate conclusions on the type of maintenance service to provide. The company can also consider purchasing insurance cover for liabilities arising from the actions of its technicians when providing maintenance services for the driverless cars.

Work Cited

Yang, Shun-Neng, Wei-Sheng Cheng, Yu-Ching Hsu, Chai-Hien Gan, and Yi-Bing Lin. "Charge scheduling of electric vehicles in highways." Mathematical and Computer Modelling 57.11 (2013): 2873-2882.