Christian Cieri, Illustrator
What’s the deal with these autonomous cars, self-driving cars for the layman? When I first heard about these self-driving cars, my first reaction was one of shock, horror, and “Gosh, this is stupid.” Sure, it’s pretty neat that car manufacturers are endorsing innovation through technological advancements, but it seems to me that self-driving cars are highly impractical by design.
Imagine you drive a car that usually takes regular fuel. For some reason you feel risky, you may want some high-octane fuel. Next thing you know, the self-driving car is all over the road. This car is clearly intoxicated on some top-shelf product. A policeman notices this suspicious activity, decides to turn on his lights, and pull your insubordinate ass over.
When he gets out of his vehicle and approaches your window, what is he going to think when you tell him that it was the car’s fault? He would probably issue you a breathalizer test just because it’s hard to believe that a car could swerve all over the road and without the driver being at fault.
Another design flaw of a self-driving car is on long road trips when the car wonders how much longer it will take to arrive at the destination, or when the next pit stop is so the car can pull over to use the restroom. Personally, a car with a built-in GPS asking how long it will take until it arrives seems like a rhetorical question to.
I wonder how long it will be before self-driving cars have minds of their own and they start driving to wherever they want. One moment you are on your way to Wegmans, and the next you’re at the car dealership where your car is trying to acquaint himself with the Mini Coopers.
Chiodo is a member of
the class of 2017.
