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Against Self-driving Cars

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Clarissa

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There’s a trillion reasons but here’s one. The GPS software doesn’t allow the option of choosing a safe area to drive through. Because it’s racist to create routes that specifically avoid high-crime areas. My GPS is insanely dedicated to having me drive through East St Louis. But I’m behind the wheel, so I ignore its directions.

A self-driving car will self-drive you into gang territory, and you won’t have a way of preventing it. Of all the people on the planet, one would expect Charles Murray to understand how this works but somehow he’s failing to see it.

We are three seconds away from our cars reporting our efforts to racistly avoid places like East St Louis and compiling a file on the most egregious offenders, and here’s Mr Murray, happily promoting these carceral devices. I’m learning my routes by heart and preparing to take the SIM card and the battery out of the phone for every ride. It’s going well. I can get in and out of St Louis safely through countryside back roads if necessary.

7 responses to “Against Self-driving Cars”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Not just that, although that is an excellent reason in and of itself.

    Probably close to 10 years ago now, when self driving cars were first being made or a prototype whichever it was. There was a test done. They put a hacker with a laptop in the backseat as the car drove to see if it could be hacked.

    It took less than a min and a half before the hacker cracked it and forced the car to pull to the side.

    Now something to consider. There are two groups of people wandering about who would absolutely use this. Those being individuals who simply want to cause chaos, and those who want to removed “via accident” potential rivals, or snitches, or people they just don’t like.

    If you might recall, just in the last few years there has been several people in government murdered, a medical insurance CEO? Not sure what his title was out right executed, and several people who planned on testifying against either the cartels, gangs, or in one case Hillary Clinton killed before they could, and so on and so forth.

    Even if I don’t have any enemies actively trying to kill me, I in no way shape or form would ever trust one of these vehicles for me or my kin. And would absolutely slap any of my friends who purchased one and outright call them an absolute moron.

    No, self driving cars sounds nice until you remember what type of world you are living in. To me it is just not worth it. I would rather maintain control of the vehicle myself.

    Also something else to consider. If the car is designed to drive automatically, what is the stop the car companies or government from basically forcing you into a subscription model. Which the car companies have been trying to do in the last few years. Or trying to put a limiter and a tracker on your vehicle and then dictate how often and how long you can drive a day.

    After all, currently India, and several other nations are looking to limit how often and far people can drive due to the gas shortage. And we all know once the government gets their greedy fingers on some form of power or control over you, they never let go.

    • – W

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      In the initial proof-of-concept testing, they had cars trying to climb Jersey barriers after getting a single sensor knocked askew: it sensed infinite clear space.

      I want to think those problems have been solved, but I don’t trust it enough to get into such a vehicle.

      -ethyl

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  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Stick is just more fun to drive.

    But also: It’s gonna take about three seconds for self-driving to become an inescapable subscription service. Hey, we just raised your rates and there’s frack-all you can do about it because what’re you gonna do, pay another 20k for a *different* car? Oh, oopsie daisy, the last software update just bricked fifty thousand cars. Now you need an IT guy *and* a mechanic. Gravel truck cracked your windshield? Haha, that’ll be $5k to replace because it’s got four very delicate sensors attached to it, and can only be done by specially-credentialed pros. We’re sorry you can’t drive the car with a cracked windshield and your rural town doesn’t have anyone who can do the work… guess you’ll just have to tow it 100 miles to the nearest service center at your own expense…

    This is that theory of mind problem where people with a bazillion dollars can’t imagine the relative expense of transport for regular-job people, and all the implications of that.

    -ethyl

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      True. And also: I like driving. I don’t want to be liberated from it. I like folding laundry and cooking and working. I don’t want to be liberated from any of it.

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      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        All I can think with those laundry-folding robots… what good is folding it all, if they can’t sort it by who it belongs to? I don’t for a minute believe they can turn a pair of swim trunks right side out. This is the beautiful future where everybody lives alone?

        We had automatic dishwashers that worked, and then we regulated them until they didn’t work to save electricity and water. How is adding AI to a bunch of new and unnecessary household appliances going to save electricity and water? It’s OK if it uses a bazillion gigajoules and half the local river to fold your laundry, as long as it happens offsite at a datacenter? This is the same illogic that puts electric cars down as “green.” Is *that* what we gave up efficient dishwashers for? To save energy and water for laundry-folding robots that are going to put everybody’s socks in the wrong dresser?

        -ethyl

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Electricity-saving dishwashers are a big pet peeve of mine. It’s extraordinary how people can mess up a good, working machine with these moronic “improvements.”

          “Smart” appliances are the absolute worst. Dumb toys for dumb people.

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  3. Random reader Avatar
    Random reader

    I recently visited one of the cities with Waymo (self-driving) cars. You can order them like an Uber to get a ride. I was creeped out. You can see them driving all over the city. I don’t trust these things and took my chances with a human driver. Some people though, are very excited and all for it.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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