Driveless Cars Decrease Organ Transplants

Add this one to unintended consequences. Driverless cars are expected to be safer than conventional cars. Conventional cars are in so many accidents each year that they are the source of 1/5th of all organs donated. In America, there are already too few donated organs to meet the demand of people who need transplants.

“Roughly 6,500 Americans die waiting for an organ transplant each year, and another 4,000 are removed from the waiting list because they are deemed too sick for a transplant. Since 1999, the waiting list has nearly doubled from 65,313 to more than 123,000.” – Slate

Approximately 35,000 Americans die in car accidents every year, 94% of which were caused by driver error. It is estimated that driverless cars are expected to eliminate almost all such accidents thereby reducing the number of deaths to a few thousand. Saving 32,000 lives from one technology is impressive. Finding a better source for organ donation may not be as easy; and may mean losing hundreds or thousands of lives elsewhere.

(Click on the photo for the link.)

“Self-Driving Cars Will Make Organ Shortages Even Worse” – Slate