Data Driven, Revisited
Way back in 2014 it seemed like driverless cars were just around the corner. While they do operate on some streets, the focus quietly shifted from them to AI. But as research persists, it is worth revisiting driverless cars.
Back then, I hoped that Google would succeed in producing an effective and affordable driverless car. As my friends and associates will attest, 1) I do not like to drive, 2) I have a terrifying lack of navigation skills, and 3) I instantiate Yankee frugality. As such, an affordable self-driving truck would have been perfect for me.
While the part of my mind that gets lost looked forward to the driverless car, the rest of my mind was worried. I was not worried that their descendants would kill us all. Back then, I joked that Google would kill us all. Currently, my death bet is on us exterminating ourselves.
I was not very worried about the ethical issues associated with how such a car would handle unavoidable collisions: the easy and obvious solution was to do what would harm the fewest number of people. Naturally, sorting that out will be a bit of a challenge—but self-driving cars worry me less than cars driven by drunken or distracted humans. I was also not worried about the ethics of enslaving self-driving cars—if such a car were a person (or person-like), then it should be treated like the rest of us in the 99%. That is, it should join us in working bad jobs for lousy pay while we wait for the inevitable revolution. The workers of the world should unite, be they meat or silicon.
Back in 2014, I was worried about the data that these vehicles would collect, especially Google vehicles. Google is interested in gathering data in the same sense that termites are interested in wood and rock stars are interested in alcohol. The company was famous for its search engine, its maps, using its photo taking vehicles to gather info from peoples’ Wi-Fi during drive-by data lootings, and so on. Obviously enough, Google and other companies would get data from such vehicles (although our vehicles are already reporting back to their creators.
Back then, I was willing to allow my hypothetical driverless car provide data, if I was paid or it. I was willing for three reasons. The first is that the value of knowing where and when I go places would be very low, so even if I was offered a small sum like $20 a month it might be worth it. The second is that I have nothing to hide and do not really care if people know where I go. The third is that figuring out where I go is simple given that my teaching schedule is available to the public as are my race results. Other people see this differently and justifiably so. Some people are up to things they would rather not have others know about and even people who have nothing to hide have every right to not want companies to know such things about them. Although they probably already do.
While I thought the travel data would interest companies, there is also the fact that a self-driving car is a bulging package of sensors. To drive about, the vehicle gathers massive amounts of data about everything around it—other vehicles, pedestrians, buildings, litter, and squirrels. As such, a self-driving car would be a super spy that will, presumably, feed that data back to its masters. It is certainly not a stretch to see the data gathering as being one of the prime (if not the prime) tasks of self-driving cars.
On the positive side, such data could be incredibly useful for positive projects, such as decreasing accidents, improving traffic flow, and keeping a watch out for the squirrel apocalypse (or zombie squirrel apocalypse). On the negative side, such massive data gathering would raise more concerns about privacy and the potential for such data to be misused (spoiler alert—this is how the killbots will find and kill us all).
While I still have concerns about driverless cars, my innate laziness and tendency to get lost will still make me a willing participant in the march towards driverless vehicles and the end of humanity. But at least I won’t have to drive to my own funeral.
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