Picture from metro.co.ukUK's introduced road signs
on particular roads saying, "
DO NOT follow SAT NAV" after people have
been getting stuck blindly following their sat navs without thinking.
With that problem, I wonder if they'd actually see the new sign...
All this seems ironic though, when Larry Page of Google fame has come out and
said
science needs entrepreneurs and among his suggestions, he
suggested
"giving computers control over cars, saying that the loss of control was worth the lower death toll".
Ok, a sat nav error is not that big a deal most of the time (but can have disasterous consequences),
but I don't think a price can be put on anyone's life. If it results in
even one death but saves thousands, its not a good solution at all.
Imagine if there was nothing wrong, you're driving along listening to the radio, but earlier on, you were at a
car wash and water got into the sensors unknowingly, so all of a
sudden on the freeway, the car stops, causing a massive pile up. Who's
at fault? Is that a viable compromise?
Its interesting to note however, the Airbuses have been this way for
ages. Once a route is selected, the pilot is still required to fly the plane,
but it will refuse the allow the pilot to do anything it thinks is
'human error'. So even if a drastic rise was needed to avoid a mountain
was needed, if the plane doesn't know its there it'll refuse. You can pull back all you like, it won't do anything. Boeing's
are still completely human-overridable. It'll shout, vibrate, beep, blink and do everything it can to tell you you shouldn't be doing that, but it'll still do it.
I guess its different for
aircraft, where servicing is meticulously managed and performed,
components are tested a lot more, drivers (pilots) are given much more comprehensive training, a gazillion sensors track nearly everything important, help is always on hand via ATC, and accidents are investigated and
action taken immediately to prevent it from reoccurring.
Maybe the solution is a stricter driving licensing scheme, or better yet, improved public transport (including taxis).