Humans will be banned from driving in as little as 25 years’s time as cars controlled by artificial intelligence take over our roads, an expert has predicted.
A UK expert has claimed stopping humans from driving is inevitable and will save thousands of lives.
Omar Rahim, chief executive of technology company Energi Mine, said our propensity to let emotions affect our decision-making means we should not be trusted to drive.
A UK expert has claimed that stopping humans from driving is inevitable and will save thousands of lives. Pictured is a demonstration of a prototype driverless car
DRIVERLESS CARS
Omar Rahim, chief executive of technology company Energi Mine, said our propensity to let emotions affect our decision-making means we should not be trusted to drive.
It would be much safer to leave the decisions to machines that are programmed for the job, he told an audience at the Internet of Things Congress in Barcelona.
Mr Rahim believes banning humans from driving would dramatically reduce accidents as algorithms would be more reliable drivers.
In 2015 Elon Musk also claimed humans could be banned from driving – saying cars of the future would be controlled entirely by robots.
Earlier this month a report suggested Google’s sister firm Waymo is going to begin its first commercial self driving car service in a matter of weeks.
It would be much safer to leave the decisions to machines that are programmed for the job, he told an audience at the Internet of Things Congress in Barcelona.
‘In 20 years, imagine explaining to a child that adults used to drive two tonnes of metal at 70mph 112kph on roads in the pouring rain, relying on human judgement for guidance’, he said, according to the Mirror.
‘It will be like trying to explain to a child today what a public telephone box is.’
Mr Rahim believes banning humans from driving would dramatically reduce accidents as algorithms would be more reliable drivers.
‘What makes us human is our complex nature, our propensity to let emotion affect our decision-making’, he said.
‘In many walks of life this is a great asset – and ones that machines do not yet possess. In relation to driving it is downright dangerous’.
In the UK, new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned altogether from 2014.
The crackdown could also see the introduction of levies on busy roads for owners of the most polluting vehicles.
However, Mr Rahim says governments have missed the point, arguing humans should be taken out of the equation completely – and he believes the UK government should be the first to introduce legislation.
Omar Rahim, chief executive of technology company Energi Mine believes banning humans from driving would dramatically reduce accidents. Pictured is a Google self driving SUV at the Google X Headquarters
He’s not the first to make such claims.
In 2015 Elon Musk also said humans could be banned from driving – indicating cars of the future would be controlled entirely by robots.
‘It would be like an elevator. They used to have elevator operators, and then we developed some simple circuitry to have elevators just automatically come to the floor that you’re at… the car is going to be just like that,’ he told NVidia’s CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang at the company’s annual developers conference.
Musk said that the obvious answer to keeping humans safe on the road is to ban us from driving, because ‘it’s too dangerous…you can’t have a two-ton death machine’.
In 2015 Elon Musk also said humans could be banned from driving – indicating cars of the future would be controlled entirely by robots
Instead of taking the wheel, drivers and passengers could read a book or watch a film while their cars tackle the roads for them.
Tesla is among many firms that have added self-driving features to its cars and joins the likes of BMW, Volvo and Google, which are developing cars that could drive themselves completely.
Tesla’s Model S features an ‘autopilot’ mode, which uses sensors to stop drivers drifting accidentally between motorway lanes, as well as moderate speed and brake when necessary.
Earlier this month a report suggested Google’s sister firm Waymo is going to begin its first commercial self driving car service in a matter of weeks.
The service will be offered in Phoenix where the company has already been offering limited rides as part of a test program.
It is
believed the service will operate without a human driver for backup, although some vehicles could have drivers for longer trips, or places Waymo has yet to map.
