Motoring heaven or motoring hell?
Tuesday, January 8, 2008 
I have said it before - in the right hands, technology can be a wonderful thing. In the wrong hands it can be used to enslave rather than liberate. Today General Motors will unveil a car which "doesn't need a driver". The Daily Mail seems to think this is A Good Thing:
Imagine going for a drive - and being able to sit back and enjoy the view. Or taking the car to the pub - and then taking it home. For most of us, that's a pipe dream involving a chauffeur or perhaps a particularly selfless spouse. But the car that drives itself may be only a few years away.
I don't know about you, but the car that drives itself is one step from motoring hell. For a start, the government will make sure it is programmed never to exceed the speed limit (which will no doubt be slashed to reduce the potential carnage from a pile-up of driverless vehicles).
Unlike the Starship Enterprise, it won't be allowed to boldly go where no man has gone before. Quite the reverse. Stealing an inch at traffic lights? No chance. Unauthorised U-turns? Forget it. Off-roading? Never. Not in a billion years. (Think of the environment.)
As for the pub (if it still exists in 2018 when GM expects the driverless car to be on the streets), does anyone really think they will be allowed to get in, even as a passenger, under the influence of alcohol? Of course not. The driverless car will come, I'm sure, with an immobiliser that will detect automatically the faintest whiff of alcohol. (Woe betide anyone who has just consumed a sherry trifle.)
General Motors calls the car The Boss. How appropriate. Full article HERE.
Reader Comments (1)
I think you're being overly critical. The self driving car will be a boon on places like the motorway. And far from lowering the speed limit if these cars become widespread there would be a solid case for raising the speed limit AND a good chance that congestion will be reduced as the cars strive to maintain the 2 second gap between each other and preventing cars bunching up.
Providing you can switch it off at any moment and retake control of the car then I for one am all for them. I live in the West Midlands, but come from Scotland and I can tell you a self driving car for the six hour journey home would be more than welcome.
The problems you're alluding to are nothing to do with the technology (which, let's face it, is an inevitability) and everything to do with an overbearing government. By 2018 there's a good chance your car will be fitted with a GPS transponder that will report to a system that's poised to issue you with a speeding ticket the moment you edge over the speed limit anyway, after a few years of that you might be glad of a car in which its impossible to speed - save you getting a ticket every time you come down a hill or take your eyes of the speedo for more than 30 seconds.