As someone who loves driving, I have been opposed to autonomous vehicles. I was, until an event last year in Sydney.
A widowed mother of four accidentally drove her Toyota SUV into a primary school classroom with 24 students. She allegedly lost control of the vehicle and it ploughed into the classroom killing two young boys, leaving three children in hospital with major injuries and leave dozens having witnessed unimaginable sights for small children. It is still not known why or how she did it.
What if an autonomous vehicle could be programmed never to drive into a school under any circumstances?
As long as I can still get out on track or take control of my car on my favourite roads, I don’t mind if the rest is autonomous.
I have the option to drive to work, but don’t because its quicker and cheaper to take public transport. What if my car could drive me to work while I started on my emails. Then imagine if the car spent the day ‘ubering’ other passengers and earning some extra cash.