‘How long before somebody finds a way to weaponise a driverless vehicle?’
It seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? Absurd even. A driverless car that can navigate roads without the need for a person turning the steering wheel, or operating any of the pedals – or even to be in the car.
It’s not, however, the first time the car industry has faced upheaval because of a breakthrough in technology. When Alexander Winton, one of the pioneers of the automobile industry, first demonstrated the horseless carriage his incredulous banker proclaimed: “You’re crazy if you think this fool contraption you’ve been wasting your time on will ever displace the horse.” As it turned out, Winton was onto something.
Now another shift in carriage technology is on the horizon; fully autonomous self-driving cars (SDCs). They use multiple sensors and cameras to see the road and a computer-powered AI brain to decide how to traverse it. They’re not just a fanciful idea from science fiction films, they are in advanced development.
Elon Musk’s Tesla and Google’s Waymo One driverless taxis are racing to produce the first fully autonomous SDCs which should be ready to hit the road in less than a decade.
The prospect of driverless cars proves to be a divisive topic among Telegraph readers. While many share their hopes for what self-driving cars can offer, others have reservations about an unproven technology and the risks that self-driving cars pose to safety and the human experience.
‘We have all been pretty happy with self-driving planes and cars with cruise control for decades’
With nearly 30,000 people killed or seriously injured in road accidents every year in the UK, by far the most profound impact self-driving cars could have will be their more precise driving, improving road safety and saving lives.
Last December, Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, said autonomous cars could be rolled out as early as 2026, with their use potentially improving road safety, in addition to giving more people access to driving.
Telegraph reader Stephen Morgan voiced support for SDCs’ potential to be safer drivers than people: “We have all been pretty happy with self-driving planes and cars with cruise control for decades. So increasing the amount of self-driving ability in cars seems sensible as the technology develops.”
He continues: “Having just nearly been knocked off my bicycle this afternoon by an experienced car driver who didn’t look at a junction, I can well imagine that a machine might soon be able to do a better and more consistent job of driving than I can.”
In contrast, Ava Goodone believes it “is just plain absurd” that driverless cars will make the roads safer. Goodone is not optimistic that they will be able to ‘read’ and react appropriately to complex and unpredictable road circumstances, questioning: “Are these fools really suggesting that these systems will have equal or better sensory perception than the average human driver, especially in the UK’s unfit for purpose built up environment?
“With its poor repair, ridiculous clutter, road markings and purposely engineered complexity to raise revenue, it is impossible to see how any benefits can be derived from driverless vehicles in the UK.”
Sharing a similar sentiment, reader David Nancarrow claims that driverless cars are: “OK on motorways where lanes are clear. It is less clear if they will cope well with country lanes where road markings may be poorer and hazards less predictable. Often you need to move close to hedges to allow vehicles to pass but need to avoid ditches.”
“Also, a driverless vehicle can’t make eye contact with a pedestrian to be sure they are not going to step into the road,” he adds.
Jasper Derbyshire doesn’t know “whether to laugh or cry” at how the cars’ AI might be exploited: “I can imagine the fun the kids around here are going to have playing chicken with these cars, causing them to emergency brake and causing all sorts of mayhem. And I can imagine other drivers will soon spot them and start bullying them into giving way.”
‘Isolated people, disabled or not, all need personal transport’
For people with disabilities, a self-driving car can bring them new freedom to travel whenever they want without having to rely on a family member or the unreliable services of a taxi or people carrier firm.
Reader DrJ Johnson questions: “How does a walking frame user with no licence get to the same places which you drive to? There is a groupthink notion that by never mentioning age, or disability, both will go away. The two groups overlap, and increase.”
He elaborates: “Isolated people, disabled or not, driving licenced or not, all need personal transport more than other people do.”
Sharing a similar perspective is Cath Scarlett, who shares how driverless cars could positively affect her life: “I was fairly excited at the prospect of autonomous vehicles when they were first developed because I haven’t been able to drive for years due to disability and it has been very limiting because I live in an area with poor public transport.”
Richard Allsop also explains how a self-driving car would benefit his family: “My daughter has epilepsy and an autonomous drive function would be great, because having to use Ubers and public transport is expensive, time consuming and inflexible.”
‘I want to be drunk, asleep, sitting in the back while the car drives me home’
Driving under the influence of alcohol is the scourge of the roads particularly over the Christmas season when drink driving accidents are 20 per cent higher. A self-driving car will help those who have over-indulged and want to get home without a drunken drive that is risky to themselves - and others.
Reader Matthew Lennard is eager to experience catching a ride in an SDC as an inebriated passenger he says: “This is the whole point of driverless cars. I want to be drunk, asleep, sitting in the back while the car drives me home. Otherwise there’s no valid point for driverless cars.”
Another anonymous reader weighs in on the prospect: “Do you honestly believe that the ‘state’ would allow you to be picked up from a pub, drunk, by a driverless car?”
Meanwhile, reader Ian Carmichael has spotted a gap in the market for a self-driving car that functions as a mobile bar: “The convenience will be great. Call up any size of car you want for a trip. Have your own limo with rare scotches in the cabinet. Lovely. A great way to enable the replacement of all the country pubs put out of business by drink driving laws.”
‘How long before somebody finds a way to weaponise a driverless vehicle?’
Given their use of computerised systems, there is the threat that self-driving cars could be vulnerable to hacking – the compromising of their security possibly allowing access to a vehicle’s data and even its controls.
Reader Paul Lever is apprehensive “a cyberattack would be a worry for self-driving cars”.
“Go and check your present car - does it have an electronic throttle, electric steering and electronic stability control? I thought so. Now, imagine if any of those things are hacked.”
Chris Brooks weighs in, voicing concern at how SDCs could be misused for heinous acts. He poses the question: “How long before somebody finds a way to weaponise a driverless vehicle? As if we don’t have enough lunatics on the road already.”
The need for self-driving cars’ security to be constantly patched to protect them against hackers is deliberated by another reader who details how “over the air software updates are already standard in most cars from Golf class upwards.
“Even my five-year-old BMW is always connected to the internet. I can unlock the doors, start the aircon and access the cameras using my mobile phone, and this is low tech compared to something like a Tesla. I think in the future we’ll have to get used to frequent security updates on our cars the same way we have them now on our phones.”
‘I value my freedom by being able to control where and when I travel’
Self-driving cars mean there will be less need for drivers and less need for learning to drive. One of the sweetest joys of driving is getting behind the wheel on a summer’s day and hitting an open road. The feeling of this cannot be replicated in the passenger seat so millions of self-driving car owners will sadly never know the joy of this soul-lifting experience.
Reader Gary Heaselden ponders: “If autonomous driving vehicles become the norm, who is going to bother with acquiring the driving skills necessary to be the user in charge?”.
C Daw contemplates how self-driving cars could open the door to government control of citizens’ movement: “No thanks, I value my freedom by being able to control where and when I travel. That will be lost with driverless cars. It would be the beginning of a slippery slope of ever more control over the general populace.”
“This is yet another deskilling and dehumanising technology that will rob us of our autonomy and pave the way for a totalitarian society” claims Michael John Roarty.
‘I would hope AI would make the right decision’
Self-driving cars will have programmed into their computers how to deal with thousands of complex road circumstances. There will be occasions when driving where an unexpected collision becomes imminent and their AI will have to make a split-second decision that will benefit one party but possibly harm another.
Reader Fred Bloggs is perturbed that a car’s AI has to decide on an ethical dilemma that may leave its passengers dead: “There is a moral element that is never discussed. Are you willing to give the choice of life or death to an AI driven machine?”
He continues: “Two people walk out on the road. The car has to make a decision which one to kill or avoid and kill 10 people waiting at the bus stop. Asimov raised these arguments in 1942. They have never been addressed morally or legally. They were hypothetical. Now they are not. Are you going to write code to value targets on a points system, and decide to kill the lowest value?”
Finally, Eric Moore has similar questions about a self-driving car’s AI: “I’ve been in a car where the driver nearly killed us to avoid a bunny rabbit. Now, I would hope AI would make the right decision.”
