ARE DRIVERLESS CARS REALLY SO ECO FRIENDLY ?

The computers needed to run self-driving cars could pose a serious threat to the environment. They could ultimately produce more greenhouse gas emissions per year than Argentina currently does, new research suggests.  Fossil fuel-guzzling cars spew out billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. Their electric, self-driving counterparts are much more environmentally friendly – but they’re no silver bullet, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have found. To run autonomously, these cars rely on a vast computing infrastructure powering onboard cameras and operating driving algorithms. If such self-driving vehicles are widely adopted, the computers powering them would generate as much greenhouse gas as all the world’s existing data centres currently do – roughly equivalent to 0.3 per cent of global emissions, or the total carbon footprint of Argentina.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *