We have a new rivalry: the Google self-driving car vs. the General Motors “Super Cruise.” The tech world is all revved up about autonomous cars; it’s like Minority Report meets Back to the Future! But before we start singing “A Whole New World” from Aladdin, we need to take a step back and evaluate the feasibility of the implementation of the technology.
Cars are already available with semi-autonomous features: cruise control, automatic breaking (for objects that enter the car’s sensor fields), parallel park assist, and new features that guide cars back into their lane if they veer too much. The new Cadillac “Super Cruise” is attempting to one-up these features: it can steer the car within the lane, and will make the driver’s seat vibrate if the car veers out of bounds. It can also brake and accelerate to maintain a “selectable distance” between the car and those in front of it. Proponents of semi-autonomous, and future (fully) autonomous, cars argue that this technology will lead to safer roads, less accidents, better gas mileage, and less need for mistake-prone humans to be driving. I disagree. What about the imperfect nature of our new chauffeurs: computers?
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Before you say, “but Becky, what about airplane autopilot?!” airplanes are not rolling down roads in packs — immediately following/followed by another airplane full of people, nor are they surrounded by pedestrians. When something does go wrong on an airplane, a free-thinking human must find a creative solution. Computers cannot act out of self-preservation—they do not care if you crash or die. How would a computer fare in rush-hour traffic, surrounded by all human-driving cars? Can it honestly calculate all potential human movements and operate safely? Will it predict that the man in the grey Toyota, who just cut off the little old lady, is about to cut you off too? You just saw it happen, whereas the computer isn’t putting 2 and 2 together. It also isn’t making glaring eye-contact with the driver, daring him to come into your lane. Sometimes, “human” is better because, well, you can think like a human!
A computer isn’t a one-stop fix to all of our driving problems. Computers will still get viruses, crash, and fail just like our laptops, cellphones, navigation systems, and ipods. Real offensive driving requires a human brain. If all drivers decided to go “autonomous” at once, then I might ease up (computer to computer interaction is easier to write than computer to human interaction), but, until then, I will be cautious about computers infiltrating all aspects of my life. We’ve all seen The Terminator…
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