Imagine the day when we need no more driver’s licenses, fear of crashes or drunk drivers.

No, I am not talking about the time before the automobile;  I am speaking of the future.

Computers are beginning to be utilized to drive cars autonomously without human help.  Recently in 2005 there was a robot race to build a computer driven car.  The DARPA Grand Challenge had created a race to build a driverless car.  The head of Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Lab named Sebastian Thrun had in 2004 failed to produce the results needed to win the contest.  This was a small setback for Thrun who in 2005 was victorious and won the contest.  Here is a link to information on that contest and Thrun:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa/cars.html

Thrun with the help of his creation “Stanley” have shown that developing computer driven cars is not only possible, but it can be done with relative ease and without much investment.  Would it then not make sense to invest in such technologies to eliminate human error from the driving experience?

While some “technophobes” may feel uneasy about the prospect of having cars driven for them by computers, they also are usually abhorrent to drunk driving and recoil in horror at the sight of a major car accident.  Morally, I think it maybe imperative we explore the possibility we ban human driving all together.

What are some of the benefits of computer based driving?  Below I detail some of the main points:

1.  Elimination of Drivers Licenses and Bureau of Motor Vehicles

2.  End of Checkpoints, traffic stops, and racial profiling

3.  No more Drunk and intoxicated drivers

4.  Human Errors will end

5.  Near elimination of human related car accident injuries and deaths.

6. Major savings in both Health and Government related areas.

7. Cars become pleasure, information, and entertainment vehicles.

Much of the bureaucracy involved with getting a drivers license will be eliminated as well as police stops, racial profiling, and checkpoints.  Drunk driving will no longer exist because computers cannot become intoxicated.  Human error probably plays the largest role in car crashes and deaths on the roads.  With computers driving, there may be errors, but nothing on the level of what is currently experienced.  Just the savings in the amount of police, and government workers is enough to make this tech conversion pay for itself not even including the amount of human life saved from both harm and prison.

In the year 2005, there were 6,420,000 car accidents in the United States.  The financial burden created by this mountain of error was more than 230 Billion dollars.  The injury totals are around 2.9 million with deaths reaching 42,636.  (http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/stats.html)  One can imagine the healthcare and funeral costs associated with those accidents also topped several billion dollars.  This should give the moral and financial imperative to further invest in this technology.  As technology improves, it is our moral responsibility to make computers drive cars and eliminate human errors from the driving equation.

Friends of mine have labeled me a “technofacist” because of my want to eliminate them from being able to operate a motor vehicle.  On the other hand I think it is immoral to allow such a system to continue when a serious solution is within reach.

While I do understand there may be a need for manual override in case of emergencies, I really do see humans as more of the problem than the solution when it comes to driving.  Nostalgia is never a good reason for not acting to save human life.  I am sure some solution can be worked out for those who still seek to drive cars themselves off road.  We should never lose sight of where we came from and therefore preserving some form of tradition is always important.  Having designated parks and areas for humans to drive cars only makes sense when considering the love for nostalgia in America.  This kind of solution shows that compromise can be reached when discussing automated driving.

Cars will completely transform themselves away from the standard wheel and peddle deviation we are used to today.  In fact it will seem rather antediluvian to have a wheel when we are all riding around watching movies and sipping on alcoholic beverages.  The possibilities become endless when you eliminate the need for driving the auto.  We can envision sleeping cars with a bed in them, lounge cars with full bars, and complete entertainment systems at the disposal of the traveler.  Computer environmental augmentation by displaying images or information about a specific landmark in the glass of the car will become commonplace.  With the car driving itself you can learn about places and read reviews of places you would never have looked at before.  Suddenly information about our environments will be rich, entertainment easy to access, sleep possible on long trips, and pleasure riding consuming drugs and alcohol commonplace.  Total transformation of automobiles may be one of the coolest reasons for wanting cars to be driven by computer.

Those worried about privacy should rest easy knowing the computer won’t break any laws driving and therefore won’t incur any intrusions from police.  While the car may be visible on the network upon which it travels, privacy procedures could be put in place so that those on the same network implement hashing algorithms or something more advanced to hide sensitive personal data from prying eyes.   This technology could be abused for sure by government.  This is why if we get out ahead of the gavel and begin implementing rational protocols on privacy now, the problem of privacy will not be a problem when the time comes.

Computers driving cars is not only moral it is the right thing to do.  Investment in this technology should be top on the agenda of car companies and geeks across America.  Private enterprise should find a way to make machine controlled driving more appealing to the consumer, and also make the heavy investments needed to make such a system feasible.  Once the infrastructure is in place and market developed the government should create regulations to ensure the security of the networks and vehicles utilizing the roads.

The argument against computer driven cars is one fraught with difficulty.  As technological change accelerates in the coming years, it will become apparent how fruitless the argument against machine driven vehicles will be.  It is for this reason that we need to start thinking about it now, and realizing the potential benefits and troubles that may arise from such a system.

Computer driven cars are the future and it is inevitable.  Instead of arguing over if it will happen, we should discuss the implications of the technology on our lives and how it can improve our lives or cause problems.  While I personally look forward to the day when cars are no longer driven by humans, I understand why others may fear it.  Let’s move past indecision to compromise.  Handling the ethical considerations early will prevent violations from happening before they happen.  As the technology continues to emerge we must begin to ask ourselves: Would we feel safer on a road full of humans, or a road controlled by computers?

- Michael Latulippe