Hollywood fantasy, meet realm of reality. Driverless cars — like the ones featured in the television show “Knight Rider” or movie “I, Robot” — are actually coming to American highways.
Google invented one three years ago and now California is reviewing its road and transportation rules to make space on the highway for automated cars.
The downside of the development? Truck drivers will lose their jobs. And cab drivers. And bus drivers.
“All those jobs are going to disappear in the next 25 years,”said Moshe Vardi, a computer scientist at Rice University in Houston, in an Associated Press report. “Driving by people will look quaint. It will look like a horse and buggy.”
The legal pitfalls are substantial, however. As Megan McArdle opines in The Daily Beast, the “technology is great.” But, she asks, if you’re in an accident or if you hit a child, “who gets sued?”
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Cheryl Chumley is a continuous news writer for The Washington Times. Previously, she was part of the start-up team for The Washington Times’ digital aggregation product, Times247. She’s also a 2008-2009 Robert Novak journalism fellow with The Phillips Foundation. She can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
A collection of reader guest articles, thoughts and opinions by Communities writers and breaking news and information.
This column will cover anything that has anything remotely to do with the game of baseball, from the game itself to mid-summer trades to offseason moves.
Benghazi: The anatomy of a scandal
13 Photos
Vietnam Memorial adds four names
18 Photos
Cinco de Mayo on the Mall
11 Photos
NRA kicks off annual convention
8 Photos
