Apart from their impact on environmental sustainability, there is a need to observe that autonomous cars will have an impact on employment across the globe. To begin with, there is a need to observe that the introduction of autonomous cars on the roads will reduce the need for individuals as well as companies that own such cars to hire drivers to drive them around. Speaking this point of view, it is imperative to observe that one of the groups of people in society who will be adversely affected by autonomous cars is service drivers who operate taxis and other similar businesses. In reference to Strauss (2015), an estimated 230,000 taxi drivers are likely to lose their jobs due to the introduction of autonomous cars on the road. Importantly, the loss of their jobs will not affect these drivers alone but also the people who are connected to them such as their families. With this in mind, close to one million people in the United States alone with experience a decline in their household income due to loss of taxi driver jobs after the introduction of autonomous cars. With this in mind, one of the ethical questions that arises regards whether it is worthy for close to one million people to face the risk of low or no income at all, or whether it is worthy to save lives due to a decline in cases of accidents as well as an improvement in environmental sustainability (Holstein, Dodig-Crnkovic & Pelliccione, 2018). With this in in mind, there is a need to observe that policymakers are likely to face an ethical dilemma on whether to allow autonomous cars in the road thus reaping benefits such as low accidents and improved environmental sustainability while at the same time exposing close to a million people to decline or total loss of household income. Despite the ethical issues that introduction of autonomous cars on the road raises as far as employment is concerned, there is a need to observe that this technology is due and as such, drivers of small cars need to focus on redefining their careers again or risk facing unemployment in a new future.
除了对环境可持续性的影响外，还需要观察到，自动驾驶汽车将对全球的就业产生影响。首先，需要注意的是，在道路上引入自动驾驶汽车将减少个人以及拥有此类汽车的公司雇佣司机驾驶汽车的需求。从这个角度来看，必须注意到，社会上会受到自动驾驶汽车不利影响的群体之一是经营出租车和其他类似业务的服务司机。根据施特劳斯（2015）的说法，估计有230000名出租车司机可能会因为在道路上引入自动驾驶汽车而失业。重要的是，失去工作不仅会影响这些司机，还会影响与他们有联系的人，如他们的家人。考虑到这一点，仅在美国就有近100万人在引进自动驾驶汽车后由于出租车司机的工作岗位流失而经历了家庭收入的下降。考虑到这一点，出现的道德问题之一是，近100万人是否值得面对低收入或根本没有收入的风险，或者是否值得因事故减少和环境可持续性改善而拯救生命（Holstein，Dodig Crnkovic&Pelliccione，2018）。考虑到这一点，有必要观察到决策者可能会面临一个道德困境，即是否允许自动驾驶汽车上路，从而获得低事故率和改善环境可持续性等好处，同时让近百万人面临家庭收入下降或全部损失。尽管在道路上引入自动驾驶汽车会带来就业方面的道德问题，但需要注意的是，这项技术已经成熟，因此，小型汽车的驾驶员需要专注于重新定义自己的职业生涯，否则在新的未来将面临失业风险。
Autonomous cars transforming commuting: net benefit to humanity or a net problem?
One of the issues that both proponent and opponents of introduction of autonomous cars on the road argue about regards its net benefit to humanity. Arguably, on a positive side, the improvement of environmental sustainability will play a critical role in enhancing the quality of human life, thus reducing the risks of diseases and other negative factors that affect human life. According to van Zelm et al. (2016), pollution such as air pollution has negative effects not only on the quality of human life but also on the lifespan of people in different parts across the globe. Therefore, the reduction of pollution through adoption of autonomous cars will help reduce the health challenges that people face across the globe particularly due to exposure to pollution in the air. In addition to this, autonomous cars will reduce gaseous emission leading to reduction of cases of acid rain, which has a negative impact on plants. Therefore, as the number of plants increases, the quality of air will also increase thus enabling people in live in a cleaner environment as far as air quality is concerned.
自动驾驶汽车改变通勤：对人类的净效益还是一个净问题？
在道路上引入自动驾驶汽车的支持者和反对者争论的一个问题是它对人类的净利益。可以说，从积极的方面来看，改善环境可持续性将在提高人类生活质量方面发挥关键作用，从而降低疾病风险和影响人类生活的其他消极因素。根据van Zelm等人（2016年）的研究，空气污染等污染不仅对人类生活质量产生负面影响，而且对全球不同地区的人们的寿命也产生负面影响。因此，通过采用自动驾驶汽车减少污染将有助于减少全球人民面临的健康挑战，特别是由于暴露在空气污染中。除此之外，自动驾驶汽车将减少气体排放，从而减少酸雨，酸雨对工厂产生负面影响。因此，随着植物数量的增加，空气质量也将提高，从而使生活在空气质量方面的人们能够生活在更清洁的环境中。
Whereas this is the case, there is a need to observe that autonomous cars are likely to contribute to emergence of some social problems in society. Arguably, the rise of unemployment levels in society due to job loss by small car drivers is likely to create a platform of increase in crime in society. In this case, due to lack of jobs and the inability of the affected people to take care of the needs of their dependants, some of the affected people are likely to turn to crime in order to sustain their livelihood (Dotson, 2017). Similarly, the massive loss of jobs for drivers is likely to affect their dependants by undermining their ability to access quality education and healthcare. This could be further reflected in the increase in income inequality with high paying jobs generating more income due to increase in available time to work, while jobs such as those of drivers will likely be lost, leading to total or partial loss of income for the affected people. Therefore, these cars will lead to net problems for both the society and the government such as increase in crime levels and the widening of income inequality gap.
鉴于这种情况，有必要观察到，自动驾驶汽车可能会导致社会上出现一些社会问题。可以说，由于小型汽车司机失业而导致的社会失业率上升可能会为社会犯罪增加创造一个平台。在这种情况下，由于缺乏工作和受影响的人无法照顾其受抚养人的需要，一些受影响的人可能会为了维持生计而转向犯罪（Dotson，2017）。类似地，司机大量失业可能会影响其家属，影响他们获得优质教育和医疗保健的能力。这可能进一步反映在收入不平等的加剧上，高薪工作由于可用工作时间的增加而产生更多收入，而司机等工作可能会失去，从而导致受影响人群收入的全部或部分损失。因此，这些汽车将给社会和政府带来净问题，如犯罪率上升和收入差距扩大。
Conclusion 结论
In conclusion, the introduction of the autonomous car in the transport industry will bring a revolution in the way people travel from one point to another. Notably, unlike the normal cars that depend on human beings to control them, the autonomous cars will control and drive themselves, thus creating a platform for enhanced user experience. Importantly, these cars will help reduce the number of cars on the road and as such, reduce pollution and improve environmental sustainability. This will help improve the quality of life particular of people living in urban areas. While this is the case, the introduction of these cars on the road will lead to loss of jobs particularly for taxi drivers. This could result in an increase in poverty levels in society as well as a rise in crime levels in society.
总之，自动驾驶汽车在交通行业的引入将给人们从一个地点到另一个地点的出行方式带来一场革命。值得注意的是，与依靠人类控制的普通汽车不同，自动驾驶汽车将自行控制和驾驶，从而为增强用户体验创造一个平台。重要的是，这些汽车将有助于减少路上的汽车数量，从而减少污染，提高环境可持续性。这将有助于提高生活质量，特别是城市居民的生活质量。在这种情况下，在公路上使用这些汽车将导致失业，尤其是出租车司机。这可能导致社会贫困水平的上升以及社会犯罪水平的上升。