FBI Concerned About Criminals Using Driverless Cars 435
gurps_npc (621217) writes As per the Guardian, The FBI is concerned about dirverless cars. It discussed issues such as letting criminals shoot while the car drives (silly in my opinion, apparently they haven't heard of "partners" or considered requiring such cars have a police controlled "slow down" command), the use of such vehicles as guided bullets (safeties again should stop this), and loading it with explosives and using it as a guided missile. This last concern is the only one that I considered a real issue, but even that is not significantly more dangerous than loading up a regular van full of explosives with a timer, then setting the timer to explode before you leave the vehicle next to a school, etc.
Well, uh, yes actually (Score:5, Interesting)
The future has a bunch of scary possibilities.
At some point, someone's going to figure out that if they tape a gun to a quadcopter, it becomes a very effective way to kill people - especially if you can afford 50 of them and can do some basic automation (ie. float to these GPS coords, then shoot anything that moves). Defense against this kind of threat is problematic.
And yeah, a driverless car would be a good base to build some effective weapons on. You're going to get "drive here" for free. "Keep driving a bit, then blow up" is pretty easy to add on to that. And it requires very little personal commitment to be effective, assuming you're competent in dealing with the software.
What will cops do for their Quota? (Score:5, Interesting)
IF everyone is in an automatic car that obeys all traffic laws all the time, will there be no more traffic tickets?
If an auto ca can drop someone off at the airport then drive back home, what will happen to all the long term parking garages?
If an auto car will find it's own parking space, is that the end of valets?
I for one am happy to see all that crap come to an end.
Re:Automation is killing jobs faster than ever (Score:5, Interesting)
I've always respected construction zones until I saw the abuse in Alberta. They put their signs up days before they do any work. They put them way too far before the real work. When they're working very close to the road they'll not put signs up at all. It's just a clusterfark. A construction zone sign pretty much means nothing because the construction workers have abused the system so much.
Re:Less. (Score:5, Interesting)
You are clearly imagination challenged. You don't use it to get away. You use it to stash all your stolen stuff in, send it 300 miles away, while you take some other route. Let the cops chase you. You've got no incriminating evidence.
you use 10 of them to send explosives to places you aren't going to be. while they're busy responding, you steal whatever.
You fill it full of drugs and send it off somewhere. It's the best drug mule ever, BECAUSE it follows all the laws. Why would it ever get pulled over? The FBI is right. The illegal uses are many and varied.
Re:don't drive with nobody in it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Plus, it really eliminates the need to own so many cars. The car can do multiple duty, and borrowing a car is much more practical when it can pick you up at your door (whether it is shared between neighbors or is actually a taxi).
Parking becomes much easier to optimize when cars can drop and pick people up anywhere, and park themselves. There is no need for parking locations to be within a short walk of every destination.
You can also split up cargo vs personnel transport. Passenger vehicles could be smaller and optimized for passengers, with cargo vehicles being big boxes on wheels. You could take a bus to the grocery store and send your 12 bags home in a cargo vehicle while you take a bus back, or a 1-person car, etc. People don't need to own a vehicle large enough to make that trip they make once a month - they can rent for that.
Endless possibilities for transportation when you don't need people in the loop.