Just a few years ago, I used to pose the question of a car on autopilot to students in my “IT Ethics and the Law” class; the topic was our overreliance on technology. Then, we seemed to be talking about a hypothetical future. Now we’re not talking about the hypothetical; we’re not even talking about the future. Google has been testing these cars for years and is a big proponent of them. Major manufacturers, like GM, Volkswagen and BMW have prototypes on the test track. I didn’t see any at the Philadelphia car show last month, but I don’t think they’re far away. We may be in them sooner than we think.
Obviously, the
car has got to do more than use its own internal GPS to follow a route from
point A to point B. That’s the easy part. The hard part is sensing a dizzying number
of subtle and varying road conditions on the way, stuff that we process without
thinking about it. And the more I consider these, frankly, the more worried I
get. Here are just a few questions that I can’t satisfactorily answer:
- How good is the car at sensing traffic, obstacles, potholes,
debris in the road and various obstructions?
- Can the car process roadside Detour signs? Or a sign that says “Road
Closed Ahead”? Or an electronic sign that posts a speed limit lower than
the official speed?
- Can the car understand the difference between a guy waving to
someone, and a safety officer redirecting traffic to a different route?
- At a four-way stop, will the car wait forever for its turn, while other cars roll through their stop signs?
- Will the car understand when another driver politely waves for you to go first?
- Does the car know what to do when a child’s ball rolls out from
between parked cars?
Until doubts like
these are refuted by positive proof otherwise, I’m going to stay skeptical.
This may be a case where technology risks could outweigh a limited set of benefits.
What do you think?
4 comments:
Reminds me of last year... http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/impact/2011-02-28-bdc/daytona.html
And it reminds me of those early aviation pioneers, like Jimmy Doolittle who proved you could “fly blind” on instruments alone, from takeoff to landing.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/09/dayintech_0925
Very interesting. I agree with similar concerns. What our eyes and mind process on the road become a natural act that you only learn with experience. This is the problem our young drivers have, the lack of road smarts.
Of course taking a nap in the back seat some nights after a hard days work does seem attractive as well.
If you need proof that humans evolve, look at our technology. We think nothing of GPS today when just a short time ago it was unheard of, looked like magic. We make technology evolve and this is just another step in that evolution. I can see this operating at first like a cruise control does today. Step on the brake and it disengages. But eventually, all those scenaarios you envision in this post will be overcome along with many not listed here.
They say that if cars never existed, and you were designing a means of transportation today, you's never develop a car as we know it. Cars are transient, eventually to be replaced but something newer and better (although at first it will be judged worse). No one reading this will live to see it but it's coming. I for one, am glad I won't see it. I'd miss cars too much.
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