According to a story on MSNBC.com, the NHTSA’s reported 37,261 auto-related deaths last year were the lowest since 1961. Considering how many more cars are on the road now compared to 1961, that seems like a safety record moving in the right direction. Even so, the same MSNBC story discusses how the next phase in auto prototypes is the “auto pilot” model. We’ve already seem commercials for the self-parking cars with laser guidance. This is the next step.
According to the story, a 2007 Defence Agency test had teams competing to build a self-driving vehicle for urban use. MSNBC reported, “After winning the Urban Challenge together, General Motors teamed up
with Carnegie Mellon to form a five-year, $5 million dollar
Collaborative Research Laboratory. The manager of the group, Bakhtiar
Litkouhi, wants GM to leverage university brainpower to accelerate the
development of autonomous driving technology. ‘It’s important for these
features to become production viable,’ said Litkouhi, who has a Ph.D.
in electrical engineering and systems science.”
That guy may have a Ph.D., but our advanced powers of intuition say this is a really bad idea. Here’s the scarier quote: “‘As these systems mature, the drivers have to do less and less. There
could be a natural tendency for the driver to do other things,’ said
Litkouhi, which means that autonomous cars must watch their drivers as
much as they watch the road, or more.”
We’ll stick to our accident-inflicting, 8,000-pound ’66 Chevy C50, thanks.
