Posted: Apr 07, 2017 11:14 pm
One thing I've not seen discussed about driverless cars is the potential for trolling the system. Imagine the disruption that could be caused by dumping carboard boxes on a road, or shop mannequins, in a society where cars are predominantly driverless.
Sure, passengers could jump out and clear the mess (as they can now) but what about the applications people talk of where the car is transporting kids, or is self-driving without any humans to a pick-up point it's been requested from?
I live in a rural, forested area. If I'm one of the first cars along my road in the morning, it's not uncommon on windy days to have to stop and remove tree branches or other shit that's blown on to the road. If I'd ordered a self-driver to come out from town to pick me up, I can just imagine it sitting there calling back to base for someone to pick up a stick, and my cynical mind can't help but see this as a weakness that could be cynically exploited by dickheads for shits and giggles, or even as a form of soft terrorism/social disruption.
Sure, passengers could jump out and clear the mess (as they can now) but what about the applications people talk of where the car is transporting kids, or is self-driving without any humans to a pick-up point it's been requested from?
I live in a rural, forested area. If I'm one of the first cars along my road in the morning, it's not uncommon on windy days to have to stop and remove tree branches or other shit that's blown on to the road. If I'd ordered a self-driver to come out from town to pick me up, I can just imagine it sitting there calling back to base for someone to pick up a stick, and my cynical mind can't help but see this as a weakness that could be cynically exploited by dickheads for shits and giggles, or even as a form of soft terrorism/social disruption.