A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
This month, I’ve been thinking about self driving cars. Every day it looks more and more like we soon will all be riding in one. I just hope the built in GPS will take me where I actually want to go and not a block or two away. In my mind I imagine future car advertisements that induce me to buy their model because it won’t accidentally drive me off of a cliff.
If you do an internet search, you will find all kinds of articles either telling you how great or how bad the technology is. (Doesn’t that sound like you could researching any article about technology?) You can catch a few extra winks on the way to work or you won’t have any control in case an accident is eminent.
Personally, I’m not concerned with any of those mundane arguments. I find myself concerned with other things that might happen.
Just think of all the state highway patrol troopers that could lose their jobs. With self driving cars, accidents will be avoided. With fewer accidents to investigate, less patrol officers will be needed. What will happen to them? They won’t be able to become truck drivers. The trucks will be driving themselves.
The same scenario happens to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Why would a driver’s license be needed? Doesn’t it seem that when you buy a self driving car, the title would include the right to control the vehicle? Do you suppose all of the DMV employees will be relocated to pet licensing?
I can think of several small towns that might go out of existence. Autonomous cars will automatically go the speed limit. The speed trap towns would lose their major source of revenue. Perhaps they will have to start making traffic stops for other reasons. The officer will say, “the reason I pulled you over is because your rear window is dirty.”
It’s long past my time but I sure wish I could have had a programmable car back in the “Can I borrow the car tonight Dad?” era. It sure would have been nice to know where the car was and what time it was going to get home. When the self driving car becomes the norm, do you suppose the youngsters will be asking, “Dad, can I borrow the password for the car tonight?”
Once self driving cars become readily available, I can foresee people buying customized vehicles. Can you imagine your car as a mobile game room? You could have your game console hooked up to a medium sized monitor and play the latest edition of “Grand Theft Auto”. The workaholic could have a desk in the front seat and a secretarial station in the rear. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could sit and relax in your auto spa while your car did the driving? Personally, I’m going to save my money and buy a specially created bathroom car. I do some of my best thinking in the facilities. Just think how many articles I could be writing while on the road.
It’s not a problem for me, but I know lots of people that will be happy that there will be no need for a “back seat driver”. Those people will have to start criticizing the computer programmers. Maybe they’ll have to settle for criticizing the GPS system.
There is one thing that will definitely not change when our cars drive themselves. The monthly car payments will keep our wallet empty.
Thanks for reading.