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Robots Not Responsible for South Dakota Motorist Mayhem

One autopiloted Uber car smacks into a non-robot car whose human pilot was bending the rules, and humans suspend the robot program and consign the driverless-car revolution to another generation or two of delay.

If I were a robot, I’d be torqued. Robots did not…

Optimus Prime
Guaranteed not to drink beer before driving. Also useful if Decepticons show up.

A 2015 study found robot cars getting into accidents twice as often as meat-guided vehicles, largely because robot cars have thus far been programmed to strictly follow the law and thus don’t respond well among rule-breaking organisms. One could thus argue that if we placed robots in a universal rule-following environment—i.e., highways where every car is governed by robots and rules—the robot wreck rate would plummet.

I’m not eager to see robots take lots of our jobs. But given our own performance record on the road, I might not mind robots taking the wheel.

15 Comments

  1. Richard Schriever 2017-04-03 09:06

    But will they (the robots) have the “protections” of the 2nd amendment?

  2. Nick Nemec 2017-04-03 09:08

    Corporations have the protection of the First Amendment.

  3. happy camper 2017-04-03 10:40

    Even if they get a pause, think about all the amazing warning technology for people-driven vehicles that will be developed as a result.

  4. buckobear 2017-04-03 14:48

    At least the robot won’t be texting or holding a phone up to its (whatever may pass for one) ear.

  5. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-04-03 19:50

    But the robot could text, hold a phone, and keep its optic sensors on the road. Right, Commander Data (at 0:20)?

  6. grudznick 2017-04-03 21:03

    Robots would not need to text or hold a phone, for they would have little chips in their brains that did exactly that without external devices. For a monthly connectivity fee. This, my good friends, is what Ms. Hubbel is afraid of. Very afraid of robots, is she.

  7. happy camper 2017-04-03 21:40

    But before Data masters driving or navigating that starship he will replace cashiers and flip burgers because of the $15 minimal wage law. We tried to tell you that you can’t dictate economics businesses just do the math. They think 1.7 million truckers will be replaced in the next decade. That’s just truckers, the big rigs, and another 1.7 million other drivers. However well meaning you’ll never control markets.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/11/29/thanks-to-fight-for-15-minimum-wage-mcdonalds-unveils-job-replacing-self-service-kiosks-nationwide/#10dc66fa4fbc

    http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-automated-trucks-labor-20160924/

  8. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-04-03 22:30

    The boss will think he’s saving on labor costs, but then he’ll get the bill for software update subscriptions (imagine the security patches, mandated by the insurance policy, to make sure no one hacks your car or your George Foreman Smart Grill) and on-site service and inspections.

  9. Darin Larson 2017-04-04 08:03

    Happy, your Forbes article is hilarious in its attempt to make the case that the world is ending for low wage workers because of the $15 an hour minimum wage. Forbes says “it’s striking to see employees who once would have managed a cash register now reduced to monitoring a customer’s choices at an iPad-style kiosk.”

    Seriously, managing a cash register? Oh, I long for the days when I managed a cash register. So, everyone that works at McDonalds is a manager now? I could go manage the trash or manage the mops or manage the French fryer.

    Look at all the jobs for the new huge IT department designing, running and maintaining the computer infrastructure for the kiosks. And if they think people are going to order faster by manually scrolling through menu items on an IPad rather than verbally telling trained employees who can interpret their orders, I think they need some experience in the real world. A lot of people don’t want the hassle of dealing with kiosks. When the orders get screwed up enough, customers will ignore the kiosks and ask for real people to help them complete their order.

    This is a political ploy to fight the minimum wage increase more than a great cost saving move by McDonalds.

  10. happy camper 2017-04-04 09:00

    My bet is against you Darin. Twenty five years ago in high-wage cities grocery stores already had self checkouts. It’s true automation creates new, better jobs, but they will go to tech workers and those trained to fix the equipment. Opportunities will be bleak for those at the bottom, those without a high school education or have learning disabilities.

    Motley Fools, an investor site, reports Wendys will begin installing kiosks this year and the rest of fast food is transitioning: “Wendy’s Chief Information Officer David Trimm has indicated that franchisees will pay roughly $15,000 for three ordering kiosks, and he anticipates that it will take less than two years for the benefits created by self-ordering kiosks to offset the investment.”

    Minimum wage laws that attempt to help the poor backfire. Democrats get votes, Cory gets clicks, Liberals get to feel morally superior while the poor get poorer. Progressive policies remind me of that joke about government: We’re here to help!

    https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/04/mcdonalds-automation-push-is-great-news-for-invest.aspx

    https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/01/white-working-class-poverty/424341/

  11. Darin Larson 2017-04-04 22:09

    Happy, if the kiosks are going to replace $15 an hour workers it is only a matter of time before they replace $10 an hour workers or $5 an hour workers. If the job can be done with automation in an efficient and effective manner, it will be. The difference in the minimum wage makes little difference in the big picture to whether the job is eliminated through automation, but it makes a large difference in the living standards of minimum wage workers.

  12. happy camper 2017-04-05 19:28

    But raising wage rates artificially higher than the market will make that happen sooner, and once it starts economies of scale and overlapping technologies will just make it happen that much faster, and much more broadly. You’re gonna push it to happen. Best to keep your hands off it.

  13. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-04-07 06:28

    I don’t see any evidence that wages have been raised “artificially higher.” I see plenty of evidence that employers in South Dakota keep wages lower than necessary to support a family and provide workers their due liberty.

  14. happy camper 2017-04-07 08:16

    Oh goodness don’t tarnish the word liberty. Wages are a free exchange between employer and employee, either can say no and find a different job/different employee, it’s not a mandate. Doing so would be like the government telling you, if you went to sell your house for example, after getting three realtor recommendations on price that you can’t take the highest one. You should give the less knowledgeable, less skilled realtor their liberty. Maximizing your profit would make you a capitalist piggy. Oink! Oink!

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