MOTOR MOUTH
Self-driving cars face resistance,
If there’s one thing that a recent Traffic Injury Research Foundation ( TIRF) survey determined, it’s that — like almost all activities, driving- related or otherwise — young males always represent the cutting edge of risk- taking. According to the Ottawa- based research foundation, the only group that voiced a decided preference to drive fully autonomous self- driving vehicles were — you guessed it — young and male.
Despite the wide acceptance among these Young Turks, the rest of the respondents to the Automated Vehicles: Driver Knowledge, Attitudes & Practices survey wanted nothing to do with handing over their steering wheels to a robot. The overall average of those wanting to be driven around in a fully autonomous car was a measly 14 per cent.
Maybe it’s just that young males see self-driving cars as a licence to imbibe behind the wheel. No, that’s not me being facetious: At least nine per cent of the survey’s respondents said they would now consider driving while impaired. That’s along with the 10 per cent who would nap at the wheel, 17 per cent who would knowingly drive distracted ( i. e. texting) and the 24 per cent who would have no problem driving while drowsy.
According to the survey, the evidence suggests “that early adopters ( of self- driving vehicles) may be more representative of drivers who are less safety-conscious and more crash- involved” than most.
While ab solving the drunken and the drowsy of their responsibilities behind the wheel might seem like a sound plan, it flies in face of the plans of virtually every automaker — save perhaps Volvo and now Ford — who still say that an alert and responsible driver is required behind the wheel of their future self-driving products.
If you need further evidence of the inevitable culture clash between human-driven automobiles and their self- driving counterparts, consider this: fully 13 per cent of those surveyed said they would turn off all automated systems so they could run red lights when they were running late for an appointment.
Perhaps, the most surprising aspect of the entire Toyota Canada- sponsored study, however, is that most Canadians — two- thirds of the 2,662 Canadians who took the survey — freely admitted that they wanted their self- driving vehicle to “prioritize the safety of vehicle occupants over other road users.”
In other words, kill the other guy first.
This is big — no, huge — news, because consensus among many automakers is that the last long- term roadblock to a completely self- driving future, even after technological and insurance concerns are rectified, are various ethical questions. For example, does a selfdriving car veer off the road to save four pedestrians but risk killing its driver? The questions of who dies when and who gets to choose are questions so uncomfortable that few automakers are willing to discuss them in anything but the vaguest terms.
What’s most s urprising about this is how blat antly Canadians — at least those surveyed by the TIRF — voiced their preference for self- preservation. Many studies conducted in America, such as the Science magazine surveys cited in an earlier Motor Mouth column, found that our normally more self- centred neighbours actually voiced the opposite opinion when first questioned on who should be the computer’s priority in an accident. Only when faced with the prospect of themselves having to drive a car that might sacrifice its driver for others did our Yankee Doodle Dandy friends south of the border back off their idealistic altruism.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT) is even conducting a survey which, by carefully graduating its questions, eventually gets Americans to admit that, when it comes to driving, they are indeed selfcentred. We Canadians, on the other hand, just blurted it out.
And here’s an unintended consequence that environmentalists won’t like: Onethird of those who use public transportation and 15 per cent of people who cycled or walked to work told TIRF they would switch to a selfdriving car to commute. Combine that with the fact that fully autonomous cars may lead to even greater suburban sprawl because the hour- long commute is now suddenly productive — or at least more relaxing — and the reduced congestion promised by an autonomous driving future doesn’t look so certain.
Along with these limita- tions, the TIRF survey cites engineering concerns such as navigating inclement weather — snow and ice, for instance, that hide the painted lines on the road — noting that almost all automated vehicles are being tested in low- rainfall, warm- weather locales, such as Arizona and California. Some automakers are starting to address automation in poor weather conditions by testing in places such as Michigan and Washington. But, as the survey’s authors note, Ontario has allowed self- driving vehicle testing for some time now and, to date, no manufacturers have started testing in the Great White Frozen North.
Another issue cited by the report is that many selfdriving vehicles will be programmed to adhere strictly to speed limits and the various rules of the road, which means never exceeding 100 kilometres an hour and always stopping for yellow lights. I’ ll leave you to conclude what effect that will have on traffic.
All these negatives are, of course, offset by the fact that more than 90 per cent of all traffic accidents are caused by human error and that self- driving cars would be a tremendous boon to those who never could, or can no longer, drive. That notwithstanding, TIRF tells us that the vast majority of those surveyed “would only drive a (self-driving) vehicle with an override option.”
Indeed, it is the data that shows we’re not ready for a fully autonomous future that is the survey’s most telling story. For some drivers, predominantly older and male, it’s that they simply “prefer driving.” Others, particularly females advancing in years, were more l ikely to find handing over control of their car stressful.
In the end, the survey determined that almost twice as many respondents ( 41 per cent versus 22 per cent) thought being driven around in a fully- autonomous car would be very stressful compared to those who said they would likely find it more relaxing. For those predicting a swift conversion to fully autonomous automobiles, it’s a chilling reminder that consumers still need a lot of convincing.