Article 2VAMC Dawn of the Driverless Car review – ironically, a human presenter might have been better

Dawn of the Driverless Car review – ironically, a human presenter might have been better

by
Sam Wollaston
from Technology | The Guardian on (#2VAMC)

This excellent documentary covers every angle - so why did my mind wander? Plus: people and their bits in Naked Attraction

I have a child who has expressed an interest in becoming a bus driver. I'm not going to encourage it. Not because I have anything against driving buses as a profession (though I'm not crazy about his chosen route, the 226 between Golders Green and Ealing Broadway - would one that passes through central London not be more glamorous, as well as being more double-decker?) No, my problem with it is that by the time he reaches bus-driving age, it probably won't be a profession any more. He's only three you see. It's an issue that arises in Horizon: Dawn of the Driverless Car (BBC2) - the impact autonomous vehicles are going to have on employment. The future may be safer, and greener, but there will also be fewer jobs. Bus drivers, truck drivers, delivery drivers - all the drivers. Think of poor Jeremy Clarkson, what's he going to do? Actually, don't think of Jeremy Clarkson. And driverless cars obviously can't come soon enough for Richard Hammond, the one who keeps crashing.

They - that lot - get a nod, incidentally. A company called 5AI "aims to turn this reasonably priced electric car into the star of the driverless world," says Sara Pascoe, narrating. AI refers to artificial intelligence, of course, 5 to the top level of driverless autonomy, whereby the vehicle can drive anywhere without any kind of human intervention. That's where 5AI, and everyone else (Google, Apple, Tesla, Ford, Volvo etc) are trying to get to.

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