I just read an article about the inexorable march to a future filled with driverless cars. Based on past history, things seem to be moving forward as one might expect: There’s already a consortium of prospective vendors and competing standards proposals, so I think we can rest assured that an entire generation of young people who don’t understand the phrase, “Can I have the keys, please?” isn’t too far in the offing. Naturally, a lot of folks are excited, but I think this whole driverless movement raises some questions that might be overlooked in the standards development process.
First, just how “driverless” is “driverless?” When you think about it, this is a pretty complicated question. For example, is there any way to manually override or correct a mistake by the car’s driverless driver? The speed of the windshield wipers is an endless argument with the Mrs. — too fast or too slow. I assume The Borg of Star Trek fame controls it, but why does it care since it probably uses radar? Another question that comes to mind is: Does the onboard AI (aka the driverless driver) control the radio for the entire trip? How do you let it know that you need to stop to go to the bathroom? And don’t get me started on a question of utmost importance: Which window will it use at the local Chik-Fil-A to pay versus pick up your No. 3 eight-piece combo meal?