At this time there must be plenty of people saying that it’s not a big deal that a driverless vehicle crashed into something despite the fact that there’s supposed to be failsafes on this kind of rig that prevent that. Oh, but somehow the shuttle didn’t recognize a giant semi truck about to crash into it as an obstacle to be avoided. And even better, no one knows who to blame.
Seriously?
This is one case of human error that needs to be fixed as of yesterday. If you really want to advance the world by creating vehicles that no longer need a driver then the electronic brain driving that car, bus, truck, or shuttle needs to be as adept at recognizing a hazardous situation as it is at stopping at signals and signs. In order to make it truly efficient a driverless vehicle needs to be able to perform like an exemplary driver, meaning that it can possibly anticipate what’s going to happen and avoid it, or at the very least react to what IS happening and prevent any undue damage.
This type of accident is just creepy since there’s no human to react to the situation. It’s not a matter of blaming anyone, it’s more a matter of going back to the driving board in order to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. Thankfully no one was hurt and the collision wasn’t that bad. It’s the ‘what if’ factor however that has most people worried about the possibilities of a driverless vehicle malfunctioning more than once.
It almost seems like human beings are trying to phase themselves out of existence at times by creating new and innovative ways to place our lives in the hands of the very machines we created. At this time technological advances are relied on so heavily that many people couldn’t possibly survive without them. If we had to go back to the way things were before technology took over it’s possible that people would life as we know it could take a very serious downturn. Think about it, we depend on technology for a wide variety of things, not the least of which is keep us alive at times and more connected than we’ve ever been before.
But there’s a price for all that technological wonderment. The more we continue to rely on the marvels that are created with each passing year the more we seem to remove ourselves from the world at large. Cell phones are one great example, as are other handheld devices. They allow us to enter into a network that can connect us to virtually anyone in the world, but they also tend to keep people further apart at times than would be desired. How many people have you ever seen sitting and texting one another when they’re only two feet away?
Driverless cars don’t seem like the most optimal mode of transportation but they are surely on the rise and will probably become one of the newest and most popular trends when it can be assured that they are safe and will perform as desired. I’m not sure if that’s great or just really scary.
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