Love it…
Tesla CEO Elon Musk Drops His Prediction of Full Autonomous Driving From 3 Years to 2
…and loathe it…
Hackers Threaten to Bring Down XBox and Playstation Networks on Christmas
The first article, written by Fred Lambert and available on elektrek.com, offers even more optimistic thoughts regarding the future of self-driving/driverless vehicles.
Those who check out my blog know how fascinated I am about this technology and how equally fascinated I am by what will happen following the actual widespread use of this technology. Bear in mind, just because Mr. Musk feels the technology will be good enough for general use in 2 years doesn’t mean the various government agencies in the United States and other countries will instantly allow for its deployment everywhere.
There are plenty of things that will need to be done, including perhaps creating highway lanes specifically designed for self-driving vehicles or highways that charge self-driving vehicles…
…but I suspect future generations, perhaps even those born this year, may well grow up in an environment where people actually driving their cars from location to location will be a thing of the past.
I’ve mentioned many of the things that such a technology will change, but one rather frivolous one occurred to me which I might have mentioned before (If I did, forgive the duplication):
Driverless car technology will surely force a change in one golden staples of Hollywood action movies: The car chase.
Think about it: When people get used to the idea that cars function automatically, the idea of a hero/villain car chase as currently envisioned will become a thing of the past. Just as westerns have our heroes/villains on horses, any movie featuring your “standard” car chase will be a film from the past. Especially given the safety features these new vehicles will surely have which will likely apply to you even if you switch to a driver mode (which I suspect we’ll see as an intermediate first step before the cars go “full” driverless).
So no more Bullitt-like car chases…
…Hollywood will have to consider something new.
Which brings us to the second article presented above. It is written by Hope King and presented on CNNmoney and I suppose it is as much a testament to our times as anything else.
As with self-driving vehicles, we are a society that relies more and more and more on technology, specifically computer technology, for our everything.
You can’t get the cellphones out of my daughters’ hands but, even as much of an old fogey as I am, I’m on some kind of computer for a startling number of hours each day as well.
This means, of course, that there’s plenty of data flowing through these computer networks, data ripe for hackers to screw around with, just as the hackers in that above article threaten to shut down gaming services on Christmas day.
It suddenly occurs to me the Hollywood car chase will live on…
FADE IN ON:
A hacker types in a series of commands and, when finished, hits the enter key. He cackles menacingly. His plan is in motion.
CUT TO:
Keanu Reeves sits in his Tesla Mark LXI, reading his newspaper off a holographic screen while sipping insta-coffee. All appears blissfully normal…
…and then the engine of his car suddenly revs and Keanu is thrust into his chair. His instacoffee spills and is absorbed by the seats…
CUT TO:
Highway, day, a perfect geometry of cars in four separate lines moves quickly and efficiently along the highway. All are in synch as they always are.
All but one.
That car veers wildly to the side, nearly hitting another. It speeds up…
CUT TO:
Keanu realizes his car is hacked and is out of control. He frowns. As dangerous as the situation is, the hackers picked the wrong man to mess with.
Keanu reaches for the dashboard and with one swift fist smash dislodges the smooth dashboard plate before him. He pulls it off, revealing wires and circuitry, and quickly gets to work on it.
Sparks fly and sweat fills Keanu’s forehead. He grimaces while looking out the window and back at the circuitry.
His car is on a collision course with a speeding bus…