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Resistance is Futile.

On the other hand, the driving public, those that view driving as transportation only, are welcoming driver assist. Ford claims that their BlueCruise use is way up, and GM's SuperCruise has an 80% satisfaction rating amongst those that use it. The problem with labor saving technology has always been that, as we remove every threat to life, we naturally devolve. I see AI as a Pandora's Box, where as it seeks to update its own software and inevitably hardware, humans and all life will become superfluous; why would they waste bandwidth on growing food they don't need, worry about ecology so long as there is ample energy for its own purposes? Star Trek Next Generation gave us a peak of what might come over thirty years ago in an episode about The Borg, a race of cyber organisms:

"Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. We wish to improve ourselves. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service ours."

Chris Blanchard
Prescott, Wisconsin



A solution in search of a problem.

The idea of self-driving cars and the like strikes me as being little more than "...a solution that is in search of a problem." Surely there are far greater issues plaguing humanity right now that need to be seriously addressed, than this distraction of needless tripe.

Eddy
Newcastle, Ontario, CANADA



AI.

The future that AI is promising is already here. It’s always been here. It always will be. Technology promises a great good for society. A promise to fix all our problems. When in reality, it has created the problems. Massive recalls for vehicle problems caused by software. Production delays waiting on software chips. Distracted driving caused by technology addicted idiots behind the wheel. A problem that needs to be classified as impaired driving, and punished as such. You would be amazed at the things you actually can live without. AI is just another creation by humans to try and solve our age-old malady, boredom. Automobiles and wandering already did that. No one should ever try to eliminate that solution.

JRR
Plymouth, Michigan



Public transit.

Vehicles that don't require people to drive themselves already exist. They are called public transit and are very common in Europe. Too bad our North American cities are built for cars, not people.

Eric H.
Calgary, Alberta, CANADA



There will never be anything artificial about it.

The aperture of the “Grand Transition” must now be widened conceptually to include the non- elective autonomy of all personal vehicles. By that definition, will they still even be personal? The movement from ICE to BEV propulsion is only the first step in this grand march to the collective surrender of driving habit and behavior that you describe. The AV and the BEV are inseparable but exist apart now for only a brief uncertain period. Is AI deemed to be the ultimate determinant of this interval before a “last tangible experience” of human interaction with a machine is discarded for the “collective” benefit and then buried Somewhere West of Laramie? Will the last vehicle in the funeral procession be a Waymo Robo Taxi?

“Collective benefits” however sourced, justified, or implemented do not have a good historical track record. Just ask a certain newly elected mayor about free bus rides and new taxes in his city; or the few million dead in Stalin's Russia.

For us, driving is pleasure rooted somewhere in the American brain stem. There will never be anything artificial about it.

Dr. John
Phoenix, Arizona



A future without adventure.

How do you plan your drive when you have no destination? As a kid we went on plenty of Sunday afternoon drives in my Dad’s 58 Olds 88 just to get out and explore. It was never planned, just jump in and go. Anywhere. And if you asked Dad where we’re going his standard answer was always “we’ll know when we get there”. How does AI fit in with that? How do you plan a joyride?

Jim Pytleski
Rochester Hills, Michigan



Altruistic model? hardly.

Your vision of AI affecting driving as we still know it is by no means far-fetched. It is a logical, albeit unfortunate evolution. How will those that increasingly know more about us and can process huge quantities of data for very specific results use this? How will they eventually receive returns on huge investments? I just don't envision AI becoming an altruistic model for the betterment of mankind as a priority; certainly not the freedom of driving.

James Del Rio
Chesterfield, Missouri



Wants vs. needs.

You forget to mention one other motivation for autonomous self-driving vehicles: While not-driving to work, one is free to have as much communal relationship inside as they can, limited only by the level of window-tint. That's what the kids are saying about self-driving vehicles. That's what they want. But all they really need is front bench seating and shifters on the steering column. Sadly, they don't make cars like my '74 Plymouth Scamp anymore.

Dave G.
Portlandia, Oregon