Presentation Title: Driverless cars are our transportations future.

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to believe that the future of cars lies within
automating the driving system rather than allowing humans to control the vehicle.

INTRODUCTION

1. Attention Getter: According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,

in 2012 alone there were more than thirty thousand deaths in the US due to
motor vehicle crashes.
2. Relevance Statement: Many of these cases may have had a direct impact upon
someone you know, a relative of yours, or even a person in this room.
3. Credibility Statement: I am presenting this topic to you because of the strong
impact that it has had upon my familys life, having experienced the loss of a
loved one through a car crash, which has led me to research ways to reduce the
number of fatalities related to car crashes.
4. Thesis: A large percentage of car crashed that occur across the world are directly
caused by driver errors, therefore, by removing driver errors through the
implementation of computers, the number of automobile crashes will greatly
decrease, saving many human lives.

Transition: To start, I am going to explain to you how many deaths are due to vehicle
crashes and why these accidents occur in the first place.

BODY

I.

Main Point One: According to the World Health Organization (2013), there are over 1
million deaths caused by vehicle crashes throughout the world.
a. Supporting Point: Vehicle crashes are due to many factors, but mainly, these
are human, environment and vehicle related Volvo Trucks (2013).
1. Sub Point: In a study made by Volvo Trucks (2013), about 90% of
all the motor vehicle crashes are partly caused by human errors,
such as driver distraction and misjudging.
2. Sub Point: Also, 30% of the time, the collision can be partly blamed
on the environment and 10% on vehicle problems (Volvo Trucks,
2013).

b. Supporting Point: Drivers that are not paying attention to the road, driving
under the influence of alcohol or are even visually impaired, remain as the
main case when talking about the car accident causes (Green, 2003).
Transition: Now that you have seen what the main causes of car crashes are, we can
continue to explain what an autonomous car is and how it can decrease the amount of
vehicle collisions.
II.

Main Point Two: According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, an

autonomous vehicle is defined as any vehicle equipped with technology that has the
capability of operating or driving without the active physical control or monitoring of a
natural person.
a. Supporting Point: The first autonomous systems such as the Navlab were
able to control steering breaking and accelerating, but required a driver to be
aware of his surroundings, taking most of the human part of maneuvering a
car. (Gibbs, 2014).
b. Supporting Point: Since the vehicle is not fully controlled by a humans but
computer controlled, the system does not make errors due to fatigue,
influence of drugs or any other constraints that a affect a human being..

Transition: Now that you have seen what an autonomous car is, I will present to you the
newest advances that companies have made regarding this technologies and their
impact on road safety.

III.

Main Point Three: At this very moment, Google is developing an automated vehicle
that can actually be used to ride around a city safely without a driver or a passenger
being worried to harm others.
a. Supporting Point: This automobile features a camera and device on its roof
that uses lasers to advise the system about its whole surrounding (360
degrees around itself) in real time (Umson, 2014).
i. Sub Point: This means that in a not so far future, there will not be any
more vehicle accidents due to a driver that didnt see, for example, a
pedestrian, around the cars blind spot.
ii. Sub Point: The system not only tracks data from its near surroundings,
it also collects information from three or four cars ahead thanks to its
ascended camera, previewing hazards, something a man could never
do (Umsom, 2014)
b. Supporting Point: The system used in the car also recognizes the data that
the cameras collect and classifies it, determining what the data means and
defines the actual objects around the car. (Umson, 2014).

Transition: Now that you have seen the new advancements regarding this technology,
we can continue to the closing stage of the presentation.

CONCLUSION

1. Restate the Thesis: By exchanging a vehicles driver from a human who performs
errors to a computer, a countless number of automotive crashes and deaths will
decrease, saving many valuable human lives.
2. Clincher: Now, when seeing car crashes while driving around the city, or even big
car accidents around the news, think that in a not so far future, driverless cars will
supersede humans who make errors, and will make our traveling easier and safer.

REFERENCES

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (2012). FATALITY ANALYSIS

REPORTING SYSTEM (FARS) ENCYCLOPEDIA. In NCSA DATA RESOURCE
WEBSITE. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from http://wwwfars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx.

World Health Organization. (2013). Executive Summary. In Global status report on road
safety 2013 (pp. vii-viii). Geneva, Switzerland. Retrieved October 28, 2014.

Green, M. (2003) Skewed View: Accident Investigation, Occupational Health & Safety
Canada, (pp. 24-29).

Volvo Trucks. (2013). European Accident Research and Safety Report 2013.
In European Accident Research. Retrieved October 29, 2014.

Gibbs, S. (2014, May 29). Google's self-driving car: How does it work and when can we
drive one?. In Technology. Retrieved October 29, 2014, from
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/28/google-self-driving-car-how-doesit-work.

Cho, D (Interviewer) & Umson, Chris. (Interviewee). (2014). America Answers: Fix My
Commute. Retrieved from The Huffington Post Web site:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/google-shows-off-self-drivingcar/2014/10/27/a72f77ca-5961-11e4-8264-deed989ae9a2_story.html.