I’m sure we have all seen those cars with the funky machine on top of them around Pittsburgh, or maybe we have even been a passenger in one. I had no idea what they were but I really thought they were filming another superhero movie here. It turns out, they are not for superheros. They are for people and they are self-driving Ubers.
Self driving Uber in Pittsburgh
In class on Tuesday, we were discussing how people used to be scared that computers and technology would take over jobs. Now we have just accepted that bewildering fact. My first thought during this discussion was the emergence of the self-driving Ubers. When I was in Paris last summer, there was a city-wide protest lead by Taxi drivers because Uber drivers were taking their service. There were police cars everywhere and we could not leave our hotel one morning because the taxi companies would not answer their phones. The convenience of Uber was hurting their companies, so will self-driving Ubers be even more destructive? Directly, maybe. But in the long run, no.
My second thought was my Computer Science professor’s introduction on the first day of class. Upon telling us about the self-driving car, he told us that even if we did not plan to major in CS, technology would have a direct impact on us. In reference to this car it means that whether you are the mechanical engineer behind the design, the driving regulation expert, the safety analysts, the physicist, etc, technology will play a role in your career.
In my mind, Engelbart would see this innovation as a good thing. Whether he would consider it a tool or machine is questionable, but it is moving us in the direction of training our tools and machines instead of them training us. There were many programs and jobs dedicated to teach the systems in this car how to function correctly and effectively while keeping people alive. As many jobs could potentially be lost by this innovation, so many more will arise. This article talks about how people were scared ATM’s would ruin banks, but they only improved them. With 24 hour service, these cars will need to be inspected and maintained more often than normal cars. I think these will help drive our society into a more technologically advanced environment. More and more unique job opportunities will arise as we develop machines.
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