Drivetime

I was rudely awaken from a lovely dream by the alarm going off on my phone.

I had been taking a twenty minute power nap whilst parked up in the entrance to a field just outside the village where my early afternoon appointment awaited me.

It is hard enough nowadays to find a good place to park up and snooze but this particular location had ticked most of the boxes on my mental list of criteria, that being;

a) not in someone's driveway
b) away from a school or convent,
c) out of sight of CCTV cameras and
d) as much distance as possible from a sensitive military or infrastructure site.

To be honest I had contravened my own strict guidelines in that my short doze had undoubtedly been soothed and assisted by the soft "thwack-thwack" sound from a wind turbine within some 50 metres or so.

I had just eaten my 6am prepared packed lunch of peppery salad leaves, chicken pieces, superfood mix of green things , brie, tomatoes and coleslaw (yes, the "best before" date contents of the home fridge) and was enjoying a peaceful rural scene to such an extent that fatigue set in.

I was actually unconscious for mere minutes but given that the driver side door and all of the windows were wide open I was probably lucky to have any possessions left in the vehicle at all.

I do have faith in the honesty and integrity of country folk inspite of watching the very non-agricultural activities of the storylines of Emmerdale on ITV.

Anyway, the dream from which I was disturbed was all about autonomous vehicles.

I was, in a future scenario, being driven about by some clever artificial intelligence whilst sat in the back seat, reclining and catching up with my work related admin.

I can certainly see some personal time management benefits from a self driving car and would willingly put my name down to get one.

Currently, however, that idealistic notion is tempered by the recent fatality of the occupant of a Tesla car and also the ethical implications of the decision making process of an AI controlled entity if faced with the dilemma of a life or death situation out on the highways and byways involving other road users.

That is the crux of the argument.

Whilst autonomous vehicles are seen as the future of the motor industry and many of the all powerful manufacturers are close to making such models available to the market I have major and very real concerns how it will all work.

How would it be possible for a vehicle in the haphazard control of a human with all of the vagueness, distractions and baggage that is inherent with our species be able to co-exist with the algorithmic and desensitised logic of a computer out on the road?

Surely the only way to guarantee safe road use is for all vehicles to be autonomous and nothing left to emotion or whim.

We are some decades away from such detached yet harmonious driving which seemingly contradicts those who believe that four wheeled AI domination is imminent.

Take for example the streets of our towns and cities.

They are largely inherited from the pre-motoring era and indeed still more suited to Sedan Chairs and slow moving horse drawn carts than for the volume and velocity of modern modes of transport.

You need look no further than average speeds which are, currently, below that of those from pre-combustion engine eras.

The supporters and advocates of autonomous vehicles are keen to introduce this technology which would entail allocating specific lanes and routes for trials and tests. They seem to be oblivious to the fact that our urban and city environments are already struggling to cope with normal traffic levels and so any determined move towards human-less vehicles would require major dismantling and remodelling of the infrastructure.

So, my dream appears pure fantasy if not entirely futile.

It could, in reality, be another 30 to 50 years before all transport is out of human control. That would be no use whatsoever to me as , if still alive and lucid, my working days will have long since ceased. Never mind, the ratio of my snoozing to consciousness would be firmly in favour of the former and where better to enjoy sound slumbers than lounging around in the upholstered seats of a car whilst being chauffeured about Al Gorithm.