Setting aside the potential dystopian nightmare of a fully & permanently tracked world where humans cannot control vehicles or access destinations deemed ‘unauthorized’ for their account….
How many millions of Americans are employed as drivers? Taxi/chauffeur, delivery, parcel, trucking etc.
As robots continue to take jobs from workers how will people make a living?
I include insurance in that equation, too… In a consumer-driven economy what happens when there is no functional need for tens or hundreds of millions of consumers?
Good comment ExciteBiker. I really love shopping with Amazon but as I see the department stores closing down where I used to be able to inspect something before buying, it makes me sad that I’ve contributed to their demise. It also makes me sad that I can return something to Amazon in about 2 minutes when it took me 25 minutes to pick up a catalog order at J.C. Penneys recently.
This is why tech leaders are calling for a national discussion on a UBI. Most of the population of this country is not close to ready to even try to wrap their brains around it. Unfortunately the technology is shifting much faster than our rigid paradigms and cultural values.
Duh! It can’t be as easy as it sounds. I would hate to be asleep when I might be able to correct something and save my own life. Driver Inattention is a big cause of accidents anyway, why be complacent.
Excite,
that is a good question. Either those displaced people will have to find other areas of work, OR
Democrats will start winning elections again so they can increase the government rolls and borrow $$$ from China to pay for those not working.
Those are valid questions Agent and definitely something the industry needs to resolve. Just remember, we’re only in Phase 2 of the 5 phases of this technology — we have a long way to go and so many other important questions will pop up before everything gets ironed out.
Computers cannot make moral judgments. When we get to the stage of “Self Awareness” like the computers reached in the last Terminator movie, they might just decide that humans are not necessary anymore.
I’m not worried about Skynet – that was supposed to happen in August 1997 so maybe the fictional movie isn’t a one-for-one on what will happen in the future.
February 22, 2017 at 12:08 pm
Agent says:
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Rosenblatt, perhaps we shouldn’t be that worried for about 20 years. There are so many flaws with software in computers, sensors cannot even recognize an 18 wheeler like the Tesla car. Hacking is another issue as has been shown. If hackers can access companies and governments, they can do a number on cars as well.
February 22, 2017 at 2:47 pm
Rosenblatt says:
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I hear your concerns, but think the industry should iron out as many of those details now instead of waiting until the last moment to do so. This technology is coming whether or not we like it – might as well take the time now to try and get it right the first time!
February 21, 2017 at 4:26 pm
Ernie says:
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Ford engineers fall asleep while sitting in a car? In a driverless car, they would be the equivalent of a front seat passenger and I can’t remember the last time someone nodded off while I was driving.
Maybe they need to go to bed earlier at night.
Ernie,
Not trying to be cruel or anything but when my family and I are on long drives it is not uncommon at all for my wife or teenage son to nod off. Maybe this says more about your driving or it could be the lack of stimulating conversation from me.
Vaporwear. This will work on highways and such but not in cities. I am all for it as lomg as it does not take away public funding from better projects like mass transit but Ford is in a fantasyland here.
Everyone on this comment section, unless you are independently wealthy, should be extremely concerned with the trend to replace humans at every level by computers and automation. If you replace all the manufacturing jobs, insurance agents, retail stores, car dealerships, taxi drivers, truck drivers, train engineers, engineers in general, nobody earns a living anymore and the only ones making money are the corporations to prop up their stock price. But, there will not be anyone to buy the stock! Come on people, it is easy to say, “Well, everyone needs to go find new jobs.” News flash, there aren’t that many new jobs! Bad, bad, bad for the American family that works for a living.
I still remember 20 years ago they were telling us that the office of the future would be paperless and computers would be underwriting everything. Have we moved in that direction, certainly, but we have a long way to go to finally get there. Somehow I doubt if in my lifetime computers will be doing all manual tasks but they will certainly continue to do more of them.
It will be interesting to see what happens with road rage. I also wonder about courtesy on the roads. If the car is programmed to always react based on its legal right of way, what happens when it is appropriate to allow another vehicle to pull out in traffic or make a lane change based on common courtesy to help with traffic flow? If you are trying to turn into a continuous lane of traffic, will you ever be able to make the turn? Getting out of a packed parking lot after a football game will be quite a sight to see.
Setting aside the potential dystopian nightmare of a fully & permanently tracked world where humans cannot control vehicles or access destinations deemed ‘unauthorized’ for their account….
How many millions of Americans are employed as drivers? Taxi/chauffeur, delivery, parcel, trucking etc.
As robots continue to take jobs from workers how will people make a living?
I include insurance in that equation, too… In a consumer-driven economy what happens when there is no functional need for tens or hundreds of millions of consumers?
Good comment ExciteBiker. I really love shopping with Amazon but as I see the department stores closing down where I used to be able to inspect something before buying, it makes me sad that I’ve contributed to their demise. It also makes me sad that I can return something to Amazon in about 2 minutes when it took me 25 minutes to pick up a catalog order at J.C. Penneys recently.
This is why tech leaders are calling for a national discussion on a UBI. Most of the population of this country is not close to ready to even try to wrap their brains around it. Unfortunately the technology is shifting much faster than our rigid paradigms and cultural values.
Duh! It can’t be as easy as it sounds. I would hate to be asleep when I might be able to correct something and save my own life. Driver Inattention is a big cause of accidents anyway, why be complacent.
Excite,
that is a good question. Either those displaced people will have to find other areas of work, OR
Democrats will start winning elections again so they can increase the government rolls and borrow $$$ from China to pay for those not working.
Will a car make the correct decision in case of an emergency? Will it choose to save the life of the owner/family or the other party in an accident?
Those are valid questions Agent and definitely something the industry needs to resolve. Just remember, we’re only in Phase 2 of the 5 phases of this technology — we have a long way to go and so many other important questions will pop up before everything gets ironed out.
Computers cannot make moral judgments. When we get to the stage of “Self Awareness” like the computers reached in the last Terminator movie, they might just decide that humans are not necessary anymore.
I’m not worried about Skynet – that was supposed to happen in August 1997 so maybe the fictional movie isn’t a one-for-one on what will happen in the future.
Rosenblatt, perhaps we shouldn’t be that worried for about 20 years. There are so many flaws with software in computers, sensors cannot even recognize an 18 wheeler like the Tesla car. Hacking is another issue as has been shown. If hackers can access companies and governments, they can do a number on cars as well.
I hear your concerns, but think the industry should iron out as many of those details now instead of waiting until the last moment to do so. This technology is coming whether or not we like it – might as well take the time now to try and get it right the first time!
Ford engineers fall asleep while sitting in a car? In a driverless car, they would be the equivalent of a front seat passenger and I can’t remember the last time someone nodded off while I was driving.
Maybe they need to go to bed earlier at night.
Ernie,
Not trying to be cruel or anything but when my family and I are on long drives it is not uncommon at all for my wife or teenage son to nod off. Maybe this says more about your driving or it could be the lack of stimulating conversation from me.
The engineers fell asleep because they trusted the car. That says something about your driving.
Vaporwear. This will work on highways and such but not in cities. I am all for it as lomg as it does not take away public funding from better projects like mass transit but Ford is in a fantasyland here.
Everyone on this comment section, unless you are independently wealthy, should be extremely concerned with the trend to replace humans at every level by computers and automation. If you replace all the manufacturing jobs, insurance agents, retail stores, car dealerships, taxi drivers, truck drivers, train engineers, engineers in general, nobody earns a living anymore and the only ones making money are the corporations to prop up their stock price. But, there will not be anyone to buy the stock! Come on people, it is easy to say, “Well, everyone needs to go find new jobs.” News flash, there aren’t that many new jobs! Bad, bad, bad for the American family that works for a living.
Lonestar,
I still remember 20 years ago they were telling us that the office of the future would be paperless and computers would be underwriting everything. Have we moved in that direction, certainly, but we have a long way to go to finally get there. Somehow I doubt if in my lifetime computers will be doing all manual tasks but they will certainly continue to do more of them.
I’m not so concerned now. But I hear Disney will be using more automated animals in their amusement parks in the future.
As regards IJ comments pages, we are already ‘infested’ with BOTs doing multiple down votes on conservative’s comments.
Polar, Disney World would be well advised to replace the live Alligators with automated ones who eat people for lunch.
What I like is the lack of response will bring the car to a halt in lane. Talk about the possibility of road rage!
It will be interesting to see what happens with road rage. I also wonder about courtesy on the roads. If the car is programmed to always react based on its legal right of way, what happens when it is appropriate to allow another vehicle to pull out in traffic or make a lane change based on common courtesy to help with traffic flow? If you are trying to turn into a continuous lane of traffic, will you ever be able to make the turn? Getting out of a packed parking lot after a football game will be quite a sight to see.
“Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament.”