Driverless Cars
A cranky opinion for
CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY
The following is the opinion of a
cranky old man with little knowledge on the topic opined. Opposing opinions are welcome, but they are
wrong. As always, please, no name
calling…and that means you, you big stupid-head.
What are
your feelings about automated cars? They
scare the crap out of me. Of course I’m
an old fart and just about anything new or different scares me. At least new things just scare me, they don’t
piss me off yet. I’m pretty sure when I
get even older, new stuff will actually make me angry.
Come to
think of it, more than once I know I have blurted out that age defining
question, “What do I need that for?”
Still, automatic cars scare me. Smart people
claim they will save money, reduce emissions, cut down on traffic and save
lives by reducing accidents. They are probably right, but these things still
scare me.
I have had
GPS send me on the wrong routes. GPS often tells me to take an off-ramps from
the Turnpike only to get back almost immediately on the same road. GPS is great, but I don’t want to trust my
life to it.
Cars that
warn you when you are out of your lane, or a car is approaching are great, but
I don’t want the car to make evasive maneuvers on its own. Will my automated car run over someone
because it was avoiding a squirrel? Will
the car decide if I hit a deer or another car when I there is no
other choice?
I could
perhaps give in to letting the car take over on a major highway, maybe in a
lane just for automated cars. That
might be safe and economical, but beyond that I wouldn’t trust them. As a matter of fact, I’m generally not
comfortable as a passenger regardless of who is driving. At least I used to be that way, now Mrs. C
does most of the driving and I am OK with that, but only because I am getting
older.
Interesting
enough, in doing some minor research on this topic I found one expert with this
automated car concern:
Driverless cars will
reduce accidents, and it will be very hard to find organ donors as most donors
come from automobile accidents.
Is there
anything positive that an expert cannot turn into a negative? Still as I get older and I did have a
drinking problem, I may be in need of an organ sometime. That makes it
final, I am definitely against automated cars.
The preceding was the opinion of a
cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.
I have to be in control, so I couldn't let a driver less car transport me anywhere. I'd probably be like I was when son was learning to drive. I'd be hitting the imaginary brake any time I thought it needed to be applied regardless of what the computer thought. It would make me too nervous.
ReplyDeleteOur GPS did hiccup once. Not sure you read it when I posted about it when we lived in Prescott. We programmed it to go to Sedona and we ended up in Happy Jack (MILES away). It was a fun adventure though!
betty
No way do I want these automated autos. Are you kidding me? Not only does my GPS get destinations wrong, so does my phone, and think about how many computer glitches a person gets on their laptop. If people are hell bent on riding around on the roads like their in a larger than life slot car game, travel by train or hop a trolley. If the auto makers really wanted to make some cash they'd wind it back and start making basic vehicles and pick ups again. No computers, crank windows, a radio some heat and a/c, that's it. They'd sell a million of 'em if they didn't charge a ridiculous price and maybe we'd have mechanics again. Who knows but no to the auto pilot cars.
ReplyDeleteScary! As is GPS. I tolerate the latter but automated cars would worry the hell out of me.
ReplyDeleteI was very excited when I heard about these cars because I have a daughter with a disability that prevents her from driving. Now, I'm reading that the cars will require a licensed driver to be in the car. Seems rather pointless now!
ReplyDeletei have seen people on phones, texting, putting on make-up, shaving, and reading behind the wheel and on the highway (not just stuck in traffic). There are already driverless cars out there so maybe it's a good thing for the vehicles to take over.
ReplyDeleteA friend's husband recently bought a car that vibrates when the driver veers out of lane. Now my friend was to borrow his car all the time and purposely moves over to the shoulder. I have my suspicions about her motivations.
I have an open mind about it, but still need to be convinced!
ReplyDeleteCars are advertised and marketed as extensions of the male ego. I find it hard to imagine good ole boys lining up to buy cars where they'd sit passively while the car did the driving. But like you, I'm at that stage in life where new things are more disturbing than desired.
ReplyDeleteWe have a Honda Pilot Elite that has every whistle and bell imaginable. Hubby swears it's one step away from driving by itself. It scares me too.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day Joe. My best to Karen. ☺
We said the same thing about automatic transmission. As one expert told me, you already trust the car to do what it's made to do, you trust the transmission not to just jump out of gear, you trust the steering wheel to actually turn the wheels, etc. A driverless car is simply an extension of the same thing.
ReplyDeleteWhere i have trouble with it is in the fact that there will always be the people who will want to speed and cut through lanes and be crazy. They will be steering their own cars and how will all the other driverless cars on the road respond to them? The driverless cars won't cause the accidents, the people who drive like the road is theirs alone and everyone else is an obstacle to them will cause the accidents.
On another topic, another problem is that too many bells and whistles can take away from teaching youngsters how to drive properly. They come to rely on the systems to keep them out of trouble, and that's not right. They need to be on high alert, not counting on a machine to warn them, until they get good enough at driving to not be a danger on the road.
How about cars with magnets that keep you from bumping or crashing into them.
ReplyDeleteAs long as them foreign cars get the polarity correct. We can't agree in side of the road to drive on, metric or Imperial systems, wrong polarity could really be a problem...still, I like the idea.
DeleteI can see where some of the new safety features might be nice, but to depend on a machine that is moments away from a recall ... No.
ReplyDeleteIt will take some getting used to, I believe.
ReplyDeleteI wish my grandfather were still alive to see it. He had a 0% accuracy rate in guessing which tech advances would catch on, so I'd have to see what he said (and then go with the opposite) before being sure about driverless cars.
I don't even like cruise control....I can't imagine letting the car take over completely. It may reduce episodes of road rage though.
ReplyDeleteHi Cranky Joe,
ReplyDeleteI am all for progress and I like the idea of driverless cars. Having said that, I wouldn't get into one until their safety had been proven - which I think will take years. The moment there is a fatal accident involving driverless cars (and there WILL be one) you will see the outraged naysayers making lots of noise and demanding that they be taken off the streets, having forgotten that cars with drivers also often have accidents.
It will be interesting to see how this develops.
:o)
Cheers
PM
Who needs a horse pulling their horseless carriage?
ReplyDeleteThe ending is great. Makes a serious rant a funny one.
ReplyDeleteActually I am all for them and hope by the time I am forced to hang up my keys, they will have worked the bugs out and I can still have my freedom.
ReplyDeleteWith my luck, I'd get a lemon.
ReplyDeleteYep, that organ donor info was unexpected; funny along with an "awwwww" and a "hmmmm."
ReplyDeleteI don't like the idea of driverless cars at all. They can be programmed to get from A to B and so on, but they won't be able to make last minute changes or split second decisions when necessary, for instance would a programmed car swerve to avoid a person, an animal, anything else that might suddenly be in its path? Would it screech to a halt?
ReplyDeleteIf the driverless cars know how to use a turn signal, I'm all for them. Because the cars in Florida WITH drivers don't know how to use a turn signal.
ReplyDeleteNo. It's a sign of progress. I'm against it!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the human would have to do anything.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted a chauffer.
I have mixed feeling about driverless cars. Sure, they'd eliminate some of the wrecks that happen due to people doing things that are just plain stupid. But, like you say, they have no decision making skills, and sometimes driving involves just making a decision. I also worry about what would happen if they stopped working after a few years. Would we have millions of people out there in cars they have no idea how to drive?
ReplyDelete