Over the summer I was asked in a focus group how I felt about the idea of self-driving cars. I was asked whether I would use it often, what I would use it for, and what I would spend my time doing if I found myself inside one. I had not thought about it before, but I took a few seconds and replied that I would hate a self-driving car. I enjoy the mindlessness of driving at times as well as the freedom and power you feel when driving at other times.
We read a few articles about deaths in Tesla’s autonomous driving mode, called autopilot. Which, in a morbid way, was completely inevitable- everyone was just waiting to see who would be the first poor soul to be killed. For me, our generation grew up thinking that driver-less cars is a science-fiction idea and it would never happen in our lifetime, but we were wrong. So car manufacturers now have to get rid of the notions and preconceived ideas we have about a driver-less car future.
Good luck to them with trying to change my views. The first exposure I had to the idea of a driver-less car was in Will Smith’s iRobot movie and the following scene:
It’s too bad that iRobot also has the scene where robots try to take over the car and try to kill Will Smith’s character… “You are experiencing a car crash”
Credit to Youtube’s leothelion634
I know that driver-less cars are inevitable in the next twenty years or so, and I am going to have to live with that on the road. I just don’t see myself driving one because the idea of giving up that much power and autonomy to a robot which I don’t fully trust seems like it would cause me more stress than just driving myself through traffic. I don’t think I am alone with those sentiments. I know there are many people who are excited about autonomous cars, but I bet there are also a lot of people who will not change their mind quickly.