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Orwellian Nightmare or Safety Car of the Future?

by admin on 06/07/10 at 4:18 pm

What if our cars could make decisions for us?  This may seem like a topic of science-fiction, but Intel is currently in the process of making this a reality.  The car that Intel has currently under development will come equipped with airplane-like black box technology as well as cameras that will record the interior and exterior of vehicle .  This will allow police and insurance companies to analyze data collected by the car’s computer to help determine who is at fault in automobile accidents.  These technological advances are a first step towards Intel’s goal of developing a truly intelligent car.

The researchers at Intel envision a car one day that will be able to make decisions on its own.  Camera systems will be able to recognize street signs and traffic signals and then be able to take control of the vehicle if the driver is about to run a red light or drive down the wrong way of a one-way street.  Cars could even be capable of sensing potholes and then sending the location of the pothole to road maintenance authorities.  All of this would be possible by making the cars permanently connected to the internet and therefore connected to other cars on the road.

The question I would like to ask is: would this technology truly make driving safer, or is this just convenient for the insurance companies.  Having my car warn me that I’m about to turn down the wrong direction down a one-way street would probably be pretty nice, but what limitations should be put on these “intelligent” cars.  Will I automatically receive a ticket from the police in the mail every time I go over the speed limit?  I could also definitely see insurance companies increasing the price of insurance for drivers that they determine are “unsafe” based off of data they receive from the cars.  I certainly don’t want some random person monitoring the video feed from inside my car.  With the recent admission by Google that they were improperly collecting and using spatial data that they gather over the internet, I believe that the government should take a very careful look at Intel’s smart cars before they are actually introduced to the public.  I also wonder whether the trucking industry will embrace this technology or choose to keep its head in the sand about the cause of tractor trailer truck accidents.

~ Guest blogger, Michael G. Phelan, Jr., is a rising Senior at Ohio Wesleyan University