Okay, not to sound like a luddite here, but I'm slightly on the fence about this whole driverless car phenomenon. As a sci-fi nerd, I find it 'neat' and 'cool.' But as a human being, I find it disturbing.
We all get so psyched about these high-tech concepts until the realization sets in that, as a society, we have cut our fingers to spite our toes. Here's yet another sector that will be dehumanizingly wiped out by machines. We wonder why 'man vs. machine' is a common theme in sci-fi movies. And I'm not convinced people want to dispense with the humanistic idea of drivers.
Just think, a whole fleet of taxi drivers, private car drivers and Metro drivers who depend on their jobs to pay rent, eat and live, will be wiped out.
Like the banks cutting employees so they can replace them with automated robotic phone tree attendants, this is another change that people are unlikely to relish. Sure, it prevents some of the jack asses on the LA roads from causing accidents based on road rage buffoonery.
But beyond that, is this what LA needs? Mark Lacter over at LA Observed seems to think so. He has written an op-ed/blog piece on why driverless cars have so much more potential than subways. Well, when you put it that way...
Related: Getting a Drivers License in Los Angeles
Photo: Justin Sullivan/Staff/Getty Images
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