>I don't understand why you would then throw the driver into prison for
>leaving the highway.
Human control of a vehicle has proven to be extremely dangerous. It has
killed more people than all wars put together. We want this dangerous
weapon of mass destruction under reliable control as soon as possible.
There is no reason why the computer can't guide the car to its final
destination and park it. GPS boxes are already ordering the human driver
around. Some cares already parallel park under computer control.
Oh, that's so city/suburban of you. I used to work in a state park with
no paved roads. I live 5 miles outside a small town on the Chesapeake
Bay. I like it here. My neighbors drive worse than monkeys. I was
rear-ended yesterday at a stop light by a driver who thought the light
was green--it wasn't. Will the computer-drive network extend outside of
your universe and help those drivers?
GPS boxes aren't that reliable, especially if you don't buy new maps or
subscriptions when they come out. I don't like engineers to decide how I
drive, so I have all manual transmission vehicles, and get much better
fuel efficiency. I've worked with robots. They're not perfect. Automated
trains don't always work, either. Automated cars are more complicated.
Since programmers at my last job asked ME to help them with logic in
programming their robots, I definitely don't want computer guided cars
programmed by amateurs [like me].
If I had an expensive car, I wouldn't let a computer park it, and get it
scratched up! I don't want a computerized car from any company that had
stuck accelerators, airbags that inflate for no reason, exploding gas
tanks, unreliable brakes, etc., etc.
Do you really think this can happen within the next 50 years? I don't
see flying commuter "cars of the future" as predicted in the 60s. Maybe
getting unstable behemoths off the road will be a good start toward more
safety, before relying on computers as our chauffers.
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