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Who's in the driver's seat? Self interest and self-driving vehicles

By Lynne Bell

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听听听听听听听听听听听 I have a confession to make: I am, by nature, a nervous driver. Although age and experience have (somewhat!) tempered this tendency, I have always joked that I couldn't care less about a ride in a Bentley or a Rolls, but I sure wouldn't mind having a driver at my disposal.

听听听听听听听听听听听 So when I first heard of driverless cars, and later actually saw a few tootling along-in the heart of Silicon Valley, no less-I thought my directionally-challenged self (who also suffers from a parallel- parking phobia) had hit the proverbial jackpot. Sooo... bring 'em on!

听听听听听听听听听听听 However, on closer examination, there are a few factors which cause even yours truly to dial down my initial enthusiasm a bit.

听听听听听听听听听听听 According to the Canadian Automobile Association, in order to be truly autonomous (self-driving) autos, these vehicles have to obtain-and transmit- a ton of data regarding driving habits and a whole lot of other personal information. Aside from the embarrassment I may suffer re: the shrieks of laughter from software engineers as I endeavor to parallel park, this is a legitimate concern for all of us who drive, or in my case, attempt to drive..

听听听听听听听听听听听 In addition to issues of privacy, a survey conducted by the CAA earler this year found that nearly two-thirds of those who responded stated that they were uncomfortable with the idea of being effectively out of control while in the 鈥渄river's seat鈥� of an autonomous vehicle and troubled by possible vehicle hacking, software glitches, and accidents, to name a few.

听听听听听听听听听听听 A larger ethical concern is the issue of how AVs are programmed to react in the event of听 an accident. Currently, the arguments and public surveys seem to largely support utilitarium algorithims on driverless cars. That is, that self-driving cars would be programmed to cause the fewest casualities in the case of a potential or actual automobile accident. Effectively, that could mean that your driverless set of wheels could sacrifice you instead of two or more pedestrians. Predictably, most folks in numerous surveys agreed with the approach in theory. But when they considered the same question imagining themselves or someone dear to them in the virtual driver's seat, they just as predictably changed their opinion and stated that they would rather governments legislate-and auto manufacturers create-cars that prioritized safety equally for both AV occupants and pedestrians.

听听听听听听听听听听听 Currently in Canada-as well as in a lot of other countries-legislation still requires that a licensed driver be behind the wheel of any vehicle, in case of emergency or otherwise.

听听听听听听听听听听听 The CAA's Jeff Walker stated: 鈥淐anadians clearly see the potential of autonomous vehicles, but we're just not there yet.鈥�

听听听听听听听听听听听 Until then, I'll continue to be grateful that I live in a place where angle parking is the norm.

听听听听听听听听听听听 Drive on, James!

听 听 听 听 听 听 听Driverless cars and drivers that know what they鈥檙e doing

By Kelly Running

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听听听听听听听听听听听 A driverless car鈥� technology savvy people are probably extremely excited about this direction that automobiles are headed, but I must say when Lynne brought the subject up to me I thought about the implications and decided I was against driverless cars.

听听听听听听听听听听听 Automatically my mind wandered to how electronics in vehicles already malfunction. Currently I need to take my truck in to have my tire monitoring system checked out as it鈥檚 popped up on my dash. I鈥檝e taken the air pressure of each tire and they鈥檙e all good, so something just isn鈥檛 working in the system of my truck at the moment.

听听听听听听听听听听听 But, what happens when the automobile is literally in charge of itself and something goes wrong? Legislation right now says that a qualified driver still has to be behind the wheel ready to take over, I guess similar to being in the combine with GPS, you get to basically monitor things and turn at the ends of the field.

听听听听听听听听听听听 However, cars are a little bit different in the sense that they are more easily stolen than a combine. So, someone adept in computer programming could essentially develop a code to hack or upload a virus to your car. It just seems more open to issues.

听听听听听听听听听听听 Most vehicles have power windows now, but what happens if you hit the ditch and it鈥檚 filled with water? Your electrical wiring can be short circuited and there鈥檚 no way to open the window after that鈥� what do you do? Apparently your head rest pops off and you can use the metal posts to break the window or you can buy a keychain tool to break the window. But, in vehicles without electric windows鈥� you could still roll down the window with the hand crank.

听听听听听听听听听听听 So, a driverless car worries me because what if something happens to it and the person behind the wheel is intoxicated or doesn鈥檛 know how to handle themselves on a certain type of road. You always hear of people on grid or dirt roads that lose control. With self-driving cars you鈥檇 be less likely to practice driving and more likely to make a mistake in the case of you having to take over the wheel.

听听听听听听听听听听听 I can鈥檛 say I鈥檇 trust it, but then again I trust my driving skills. When learning to drive my dad always made my sister and I jump into the driver鈥檚 seat and go. We lived with grid roads all around and he had us driving on them after freezing rain, through snow and ice, and mud. On roads freshly graded and on ones that have high ridges and tire tracks to follow. You have to be aware of how you react in each scenario and I don鈥檛 know if I would trust an automobile to handle all of that for me.

听听听听听听听听听听听 Vehicles today can also detect if the car in front of you has slowed down and in turn it brakes on its own. But what happens when you rely on it and it fails? Technology isn鈥檛 perfect and neither are humans, but I feel as though humans need to be adept at handling those situations and courses should be offered on how to drive in all types of weather conditions.

听听听听听听听听听听听 So, if we want to go with driverless cars, I鈥檓 ultimately not against it, but I do feel that the humans sitting behind the wheel are in need of more training and need to understand how to drive regardless of what their car can do.

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