Every day, as I slog along Highway 111 trying to avoid getting sideswiped by a snowbird or trying to figure out if the tourist in front of me really intended to turn on that blinker, I think to myself: “Man. Wouldn’t it be great if we all had self-driving cars?” Just plug in your destination and let your robot driver do the rest. Not only would my drive be way less stressful, but it would be much safer for those who maybe do not have the quite the same driving skills they had when they were younger. So why is it not a thing yet? According to a high-level car exec., because you are going to be a robot bully!
Dietmar Exler, the chief executive of Mercedes-Benz USA, explained to the LA Times that the technology for self-driving cars is advancing fine, but the reason it is not happening faster is because of fear of humans.
Human drivers already speed, drive erratically and cut in line. Driverless cars will be programmed to be polite and follow the law.
When someone tries to cut in line at a traffic merge, humans won’t let them in. But a driverless car will be programmed to stop when it sees an obstruction — like a line cutter. “They’ll look for the autonomous car and that’s where they’ll cut in,” he said.
Theoretically, robot cars could be programmed to be more aggressive, but he doubts regulators would allow that to happen.
Even with the fear of road bullies taking advantage of all those polite robot drivers, he says Mercedes-Benz is still working on driverless cars.
Let’s make sure they give the first one to the guy with the blue hair and Oregon plates who cut me off on Fred Waring a couple of minutes ago.
