"There's something fundamentally American about the freedom to get in your car and drive. Driving is self-determination. The liberty to set your own course. The power to move under your own willpower, whether for duty or sheer pleasure. Despite some decline among Gen Zers, plenty of teens still eagerly anticipate getting their driver's license. In many American towns, where public transportation and walkability are scarce, driving is what empowers you to explore."
"Some motoring enthusiasts worry self-driving vehicles threaten that ideal. These robot autos, run by Google and China and Elon Musk, use AI and radars to navigate without human input; they could replace our car-centric culture with faceless communal bots controlled by opaque entities. Even worse, self-driving vehicles present safety concerns and other vulnerabilities, such as being hacked or spoofed by malicious agents at home or abroad."
Driving embodies American freedom, self-determination, and the ability to set one's own course, especially where public transit is scarce. Self-driving vehicles evoke fears about replacing car culture, loss of control, opaque corporate operators, and safety vulnerabilities like hacking or spoofing. Autonomous ride services, however, can eliminate the drudgery of commuting and integrate into ride-sharing platforms before becoming privately owned. The practical benefits of automated transport address mundane trips that many drivers dislike while preserving the appeal of performance cars and road trips. Gradual adoption in ride-sharing could shift commuting patterns without erasing personal driving as a cultural and recreational practice.
Read at The Mercury News
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