Why Driverless Cars Scare Me

Crowded Freeway Interchange in Southern California
@bagarad (14283)
Paso Robles, California
September 18, 2017 4:03pm CST
I can understand some of the advantages of driverless cars. They are great for touring wine country, for example, and getting home safely when you've had too much to drink and can't legally drive. I can also see how helpful one might be when I get too old to drive safely and need to get places conveniently on my time schedule. My problem with them is that I know too much about computers. Under the best of circumstances, they can malfunction. I've also heard many people who live on dirt roads with dead ends in some rural area complain that big rigs with GPS are accidentally driving down their roads because they've been misguided and then they destroy property trying to turn around in a small space. If the GPS on a driverless car takes you to the wrong place and you wind up in the middle of nowhere or driving off a cliff, what then? Then there is cyber warfare. Imagine the damage the North Koreans could do. They are already threatening an EMP (electricmagnetic pulse) attack. See link below. Imagine the most crowded freeway near you during rush hour. Then imagine all those cars being disabled. It's bad enough with the cars we have now. All electronic components would stop working. The best we could hope for is that the cars would be disabled in place and quit moving at the same time so they wouldn't hit each other. Maybe I'm a control freak. I hope if we move in this direction those driverless cars will operate in such a way that a human can take control at any time it is necessary. Perhaps they'll notice the problem when the smartphone they're distracted with stops working.
http://www.heritage.org/homeland-security/report/electromagnetic-pulse-emp-attack-preventable-homeland-security-catastrophe[/u]
9 people like this
5 responses
@MALUSE (69409)
• Germany
18 Sep 17
The idea of sitting in a car whose computer has been hacked is stuff for a nightmare.
2 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
19 Sep 17
Exactly! Not sure it's worth the risk. May change my mind if I can no longer drive safely myself, though.
@YrNemo (20261)
18 Sep 17
Imagine if one such driverless vehicle used to bomb some places.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
19 Sep 17
Yikes! I didn't even think of that. I suppose they could be programmed to make those attacks where the cars just drive into busy street markets like the attacks we are seeing happen in Europe. Not good at all.
1 person likes this
@YrNemo (20261)
19 Sep 17
@bagarad You are right. Very dangerous there.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
20 Sep 17
@YrNemo It seems every day the world gets more dangerous.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
18 Sep 17
The possibilities are unimaginable
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
19 Sep 17
Ah, but we are all imagining them.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
19 Sep 17
@bagarad and I hope it stays that way, just figments of our imagination otherwise it would be all over the news and hope it won't be us. The makers have to make sure that this new tech is fool proof cause it already involves people's lives.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
20 Sep 17
@louievill But they are already being tested.
1 person likes this
• China
19 Sep 17
What you are worrying about driverless cars isn't uncalled for.No way would I leave my life to the driverless car.
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
20 Sep 17
Yet it seems that what they will be trying to sell us soon.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (94985)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
18 Sep 17
My late mom always told me "Cars are not your mommy. Never step in front of one."
1 person likes this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
19 Sep 17
Yes. There's that, too. One would hope the sensors would know a pedestrian is in the way.