Hot Asphalt

One of the things I am most looking forward to is autonomous cars. Automation is a factor in happiness, in my opinion, but that's a topic for another time. Self-Driving cars are just around the corner*, and I cannot wait.

Autonomous cars are self-driving cars. They use a whole lot of sensors to create a virtual image of their surroundings. There will be more to autonomous cars, when more vehicles get on board, (get it?) but currently, self driving cars operate with little integration between other cars, aside sensory. With this information, and a trajectory, they communicate and plot the safest, but fastest route to the destination. A single self-driving car does this by reacting with the world around it, but if every car was autonomous, it would look more like a computer network. Each car would communicate wirelessly with it's neighbors to produce the most optimal traffic circumstances. This imagery is fascinating when you give it a bit more thought. Cars synching up with one another to create the most efficient and safe conditions. It sounds like a neural network; it is in many ways.

For a lot of people, this idea scares the hell out of them. I guess, I don't blame them. They like to feel in control of things, but I would like to give them a little courtesy information. Taken from extensive research in 2015, nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes per year. That is roughly 3'300 per day. 32% of these deaths are related to drunk driving, 31% are related to speeding, 16% are related to external distraction, with only 11% of deaths related to inclement weather. Excluding weather, the human element involved in traffic fatalities attributes to 2'597 of the 3'300 daily traffic fatalities. Feeling in control is an illusion. You are never fully in control, even if you feel you are. As soon as that veil is lifted, you will always know just how powerless you actually are, behind the wheel. I am sure you would like to remind me that you are, in fact, quite powerful behind a modern motor vehicle, and I would say you are right. Are you looking to prove it, or keep each other safe?

Humans, just like you and me, are the cause of 79% of all traffic accidents. Traffic is a mandatory and required aspect of human civilization. If humans are the cause of this issue, a solution must be administered to either help humans with the task, or to alleviate the difficult and dangerous task altogether. Driving, simply put, is not safe; there is no guarantee that you will make it home safe, or even alive. At least, with superior processing and the removal of human inaptitude, self-driving cars would certainly reduce fatalities, if not eradicate them nigh altogether.

It isn't just the fatalities that will be helped though. I have a friend, lets call her "Cthulhu", who has some of the worst road rage I have seen exist in a person. Seriously, she can go 'super saiyan' and make her hair bellow in her sheer rage induced power. Cthulhu can't take the smallest slight without getting incredibly triggered. I feel bad for her because she is otherwise enjoyable to ride with, but her abrupt rage makes journeys a tad stressful. Cthulhu is my friend and I want her to enjoy her rides, but she just can’t do that when she gets cut off, is forced to pass on the right, or gets tailed. So Cthulhu is sort of up shit creek when it comes to driving not only by herself, but with friends. If she is forced to deal with another human's odd or illegal decision, it isn't going to be enjoyable for her or for those around her. With autonomous cars, she won't feel slighted by getting cut off, because she never really will get cut off. Cthulhu will be much more enjoyable to ride with! Another hurrah for autonomous cars.

It doesn't stop there, however. Think of the time that will be freed up on commutes and journey's. I mean, can you imagine having sex in the back of a spacious Cadillac while travelling through a beautiful scenery like a forest or a mountainside? So many more movies will be watched, books read, games played, conversations spoken, ideas created. In 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau released a census tracking traffic data since as late as 1980. A whopping total of at least 1.8 trillion minutes PER YEAR was revealed to be spent commuting, just to and from work. That's not even including going out for errands or pleasure. To put that information into a perspective that makes sense, humans collectively waste 3.4 million years of time in one actual year of commuting to and from work, alone. We wonder why we haven't cured cancer or physically been to Mars yet; we spend more time waiting than any other species on the planet. And my parents tell me I am not patient enough…

The final joy to be derived from autonomous cars is a philosophical one that many won't appreciate, and will even lie about understanding, and that's the head space that autonomous cars allow. The ability to think freely without concern to the road. When I travel as a passenger, I am still with another soul. I may be alone with my thoughts while they focus on driving, but the headspace cannot be avoided. I share this space with another entity, I am not truly alone or in private. Our sharing of space is Autonomous cars will introduce a whole new exclusive independent space. Solo occupants will be alone with their thoughts and all the headspace to think. Such an idea is all too surreal, in a time where we can't seem to get away from the constant noise.

What do you think about autonomous cars and autonomy, in general? Is it a tool for convenience or a means to a lazier lifestyle? Why would I ask such a stupid, fucking, loaded question? Next chapter, that’s why.

*Post Human Driven Era, If you didn't already know the history of cars and the shift from Human Driven to Autonomous Cars, you may find it interesting that at some point in human history, we drove ourselves and others. SPOOKY!