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October 3, 2012

The Suwannee Scribbler -   On driverless cars

Jim Holmes Suwannee Democrat The Suwannee Democrat Wed Oct 03, 2012, 09:55 AM EDT

Live Oak — So I see that California now has become the first state in the Union with a law on the books allowing for the testing of so-called “driverless cars.” Actually, “driverless cars” are nothing new. Anyone who has ever sped down a busy interstate highway knows there are already thousands of driverless cars out there. Oh, there is a human being behind the steering wheel alright, but the last thing they are doing is driving. “Aiming” might be a more apt description.

They climb behind the wheel, pick a destination, point their car in that general direction and immediately begin doing something else…apparently something far more important than keeping their automobile in their own lane. We’ve all seen gals applying their makeup using the rearview mirror as they speed down the road and millions of us routinely gab on our cell phones while tootling along. But I’ve also seen people reading maps, newspapers and even novels while flying down the highway at 75 mph.

Texting from your cell phone has become the norm for many of us while driving, although I am not one of them. First off, at my advanced age I don’t text at all. I am still wrestling with the basic concept of why anyone wants to send an “instant message.” If you are looking for “instant” communication with someone, why not TALK to the person via your phone and if he or she is not there, you can leave a message. It just seems faster and a heck of a lot easier to a technology-challenged old coot like me. But then, I still think of my computer as just a typewriter with a TV attached.

The whole idea of phone texting leaves me cold. Hell, I struggle to strike the correct letters on a full-sized keyboard. I can image the mess I’d create trying to hit those tiny keys on a cell phone while operating a vehicle. On the other hand, if I ever do text while driving, I can almost guarantee what my last message will be; “Jst cazd 10 car pileup. Call atty. NOW!

Perhaps the bravest guy I’ve ever seen---or maybe just the dumbest---was a motorcyclist here in Live Oak speeding down a narrow, two-lane highway in excess of 65 mph with one hand on the bike’s handlebars. With the other, he was TEXTING! Now that takes a lot of guts, most of which I now suspect are evident in the form of a highway grease spot somewhere between here and Branford.

No, the driverless cars they are testing on the West Coast are unlike any I’ve just described. These will be operated by computer. You know, those things that suddenly freeze-up at the least opportune moment like when the car ahead of you slams on its brakes to avoid hitting a dog.

The developers seem confident however, that eventually driverless cars will be the norm in this country. They say when perfected, they will be safer than anything on the highway today. I don’t doubt it, but I still think driverless cars will be a tough-sell, at least in this country.

For many, perhaps most, driving in the US is much more than just traveling safely from point A to point B. Driving is about personal identity, freedom, self-sufficiency and the ego-satisfying power that goes with being able to control two-and-a-half tons of aluminum and steel as it hurls down a ribbon of asphalt.

Then there is that feeling of superiority we get when some other driver makes a human error. We love to shout at him or her about their stupidity apparently completely forgetting the fact that we made the same stupid mistake ourselves just the month before.

Yep, driving is much more than just movement. Operating a car is like being in a little world of your own, where you are a minor god in complete control of your own destiny. Unless of course, your wife or mother-in-law is in the backseat.

Jim lives in Live Oak.