As I have experienced driving people around in the past few weeks I’ve noticed and loved the personal interaction I’ve had with many different people. Then it occurred to me that Uber is looking at self driving vehicles. Fully automated, no people behind the wheel. The question that burned deep in my brain the other evening was what will happen to all the drivers? The interpersonal nature of having a driver will be lost. Sure you can have an AI to talk to you and or listen, but it’s honestly not the same. Not to mention in Arizona an unfortunate accident happened when one of these so called self driving cars hit a pedestrian and killed her. Link below.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-driverless-fatality.amp.html
Accidents happen with humans behind the wheel all the time. Understandably Uber wants to put an end to fatalities linked with their company altogether. Fully automated vehicles might limit deaths and accidents. Unfortunately technology malfunctions from time to time, but it is fixable. At the end of the day technology is still created, controlled and serviced by humans. Human error is likely to occur.
So back to my question about what will happen to the drivers if automated cars become prevalent? Well they’ll probably get the flick and that means that a lot of people will be out of work and searching for another opportunity. The 21st century is being revolutionized into automated systems like self checkouts, automatic dump trucks, self driving vehicles, drones etc. Machines are going to be cheaper, cheaper than people, which is a shame. For instance corporations don’t need to worry about insuring people’s lives or putting money aside for retirements. Machines don’t back chat or sue you for what ever reason.
I personally don’t think Uber should entirely get rid of people altogether. Maybe people can have an option. If you want a person it might be more expensive, but you might have a wonderful interaction with a person. Other issues with AI is will they make them self cleaning or will you as a passenger have to endure little Timmy’s nose mucus from the previous trip?
Keep the people earning a living or have AutoUber in cities and towns where Uber isn’t available. Have both options available, because a robot isn’t going to restock the candy, water, and keep the vehicle clean. Not to mention the personal interaction. If something happens in an emergency I’d rather it be a person driving me than a robot. Plus people like to talk as I discovered ubering.
