by Paul Pakusch
I'm not impressed by the idea of self-driving cars. Maybe it's because I have a pilot's license. When an airplane flies on "auto-pilot," it can take off, fly the mapped out route via GPS, and land itself at the destination. Aircraft have transponders on board that report their position and altitude to ATC, as well as signal to other aircraft that are nearby. But this doesn't mean the pilot can sit back, relax, read the newspaper, or take a stroll into the passenger compartment. No, pilots must remain vigilant before, during and after all phases of flight. They must monitor all equipment, communicate with Air Traffic Control (ATC), monitor changing weather conditions, adjust the routing as needed, and be alert to other traffic. No matter how fancy or sensitive the devices are, there is always at least one set of eyes watching everything. After all, things break!
The idea that someone can get into their car and let it drive itself home while they read, sleep, or sober up scares the crap out of me. I don't care how sophisticated the equipment is, there is something to be said for having an alert human being watching everything while you're racing along a congested highway at 65 MPH.
No comments:
Post a Comment