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Auto-no-me?

Autonomous or self driving vehicles are buzzing in the news in Silicon Valley.  As in they are yet not buzzing on the roads of the valley or any other meadow or hill.  Yet.  The pundits are out in force and fantasizing about what the future might hold.

One of the things on their pundit scale likely to hit the road soon is an automobile that requires no driver.  No intervention during the course of transportation, whatsoever.  No accidents, no lawsuits, no hospital trips and no policing?  Tap, tap and go.  Snooze, make out, watch a movie and arrive.

Now there are a lot of questions surrounding this idea least of them having to do with the actual technology to pull it off but with the regulatory framework the government would need to put in place to allow said form of mobility.

The idea is that with more sensors per vehicle than popcorn in a bag the average person is going to be ensconced in a computer on wheels that will never make a mistake and deliver the occupant to their intended destination.  Literally robot meet taxi.

Do no evil - the so called Google philosophy is also the company that is the leader and pioneer in the business of engineering this so called auto-matic-mobile and has been testing prototypes for a million driven miles.  Variety of standard vehicles were converted to be computers with sensors and road tested under varying circumstances to learn and become smarter about decision making.

The idea has definite merit but I am struck by the irony of it all.  Here I was leaving India decades ago, an uber crowded place where one could never enjoy the experience of driving anything, anywhere and now America with more per capita road real estate to ply their vehicles has become clogged.  It is not fun to drive anymore.  At least to go to work.  May be its the work and not the driving.

I don't know but I do know that older people needing to visit their doctor and with impaired vision now could rely on their autonomous Jeeves on wheels to do the needful.  But then again with the Internet of Things happening in tandem the pundits claim the patient would not even leave their home in the first place.  The doctor will have received their vitals before their patient even woke up and tweaked their prescription from Bangalore or Bangor so the Amazon Drone would drop it on their doorstep before they had even read the morning news.

Could the headline say - There are No News!  Now what is the fun in that?
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