An Autonomous Vehicle Could Save Your Life
Having a heart attack or a stroke in a car in the future does not mean near certain death as autonomous vehicles will soon be able to reroute you to a hospital.
In 2015, more than 38,000 people died in motor vehicle accidents according to the National Safety Council. 26% of these accidents lead to deaths that were caused by distracted driving. While the National Safety Council does not break out the number of motor vehicle deaths related to a medical condition, the risk is real.
4,110 heart attacks and strokes occur every single day in the United States, which equals roughly 1.5 million heart attacks and strokes per year. Drivers in the United States on average take 1.1 billion trips in their cars per day, which is four trips per day for every individual in the United States.
For roughly every 733 trips taken, a driver could experience a heart attack or stroke which would endanger their passengers and fellow drivers on the road as they could lose consciousness and control of the vehicle.
Today, this is one of the risks of driving on the road or being a passenger in a car. If a driver were to have a heart attack or a stroke, the chances of them losing consciousness and killing themselves, their passengers, pedestrians or an individual on a bike is very likely.
If the individuals do not parish in the accident and are injured, their necessitating emergency room visits, surgeries, rehabilitation and possible lifelong debilitating injuries could have a negative impact on their quality of life.
Tomorrow, these risks will be greatly reduced due to the introduction and widespread adoption of Level 4 autonomous vehicles. Not only will this risk be reduced, the chances of the passenger who has had a heart attack or stroke of surviving will greatly increase.
In the future autonomous vehicles will be able to sense behaviors such as the movement of passengers in the seats, body temperature or even noticing an increase in respiration.
If a passenger in an autonomous vehicle is feeling chest pain or numbness, they will be able to communicate with the autonomous vehicle through an intelligent voice system by simply saying a simple word or phrase such as “help”.
Through artificial intelligence and deep learning capabilities the autonomous vehicle would understand the problem partly due to the tone of the driver’s voice and could then send a message to the nearest hospital that the vehicle will be dropping off a passenger in distress.
The medical staff at the hospital would be able to track the location of the autonomous vehicle and communicate with the passenger if they are still conscious and coherent. If the passenger is coherent and communicative, they can even be instructed what to do as the autonomous vehicle drives them to the hospital.
Upon the vehicle’s arrival the hospital at a dedicated emergency autonomous vehicle drop-off and pickup zone, medical staff would be there waiting to take care of the passenger.
This is the future. A future with autonomous vehicles will save lives, improve mobility and lower the risk of dying while driving due to a medical emergency.