aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Automated driving is closer than we think
I expect automated driving within a decade.
We already have adaptive cruise control, GPS navigation systems, and computer assisted braking and steering. It doesn’t take a giant technological leap to turn today’s robo-cars into fully automated vehicles.
My guess is we’ll add computer chips to those helpful reflectors embedded in the highway lane lines. The chips can be dumb, like buoys at sea, transmitting speed and navigation settings. The computing power is in the vehicle. Braking and spacing will be handled by a future iteration of the adaptive cruise control.
Such an automated vehicle will be able to operate side by side with older non-automated vehicles. Or HOV style lanes that require automation might operate at higher speeds and capacities. Eventually, I expect all roads to be automated. Traffic lights, stop signs and curve ahead signs can all be translated into chips that pass information to the vehicle.
I am reminded of this because James Joyner points to a vehicle technology in the UK today, a spy device to cut drivers’ speed by satellite. He calls it “an incredible invasion of privacy” over something “they have no business controlling.” As if our profligate flouting of speed limit laws is some kind of inalienable right.
I would think the conservative position is to either eliminate or change these traffic laws, not that it’s an invasion of privacy to enforce them. And I’d prefer uniform enforcement over the present system of whoever, wrong place wrong time, happens to get caught.
James also doesn’t like that London drivers are subject to congestion pricing--a regulatory mechanism I generally favor and would like to see expanded--and says congestion is government’s fault. It’s “because the government can’t maintain an adequate infrastructure.”
I assume he’s aware that many traffic engineers believe that building more roads only attracts more cars. I’d wager a bet that another lane on the Beltway won’t reduce traffic. Have you been to L.A.? Long Island? Roads seem to me to fall prey to a kind of tragedy of the commons. If that’s true, more regulation is the best way to benefit all users.
