Fooled You, How Driverless Car Road Trips Are Staged

Dr. Lance B. Eliot, AI Insider

Is that driverless truck really doing what you think it is? Probably not.

Let’s suppose I tell you that I am going to make a person disappear before your very eyes. That would be quite a magic trick.

But, suppose I then say that the person needs to get into this box that I have conveniently placed onto a stage. Well, okay, that sounds interesting, though it isn’t quite the same as having the person just suddenly vanish while standing directly in front of you.

Then, I tell you that the person will get into the box and I need to drape a curtain over the box. Then I tell you that you must stand back and cannot inspect the box and nor peek behind the curtain.

All in all, I have gone from claiming I could make a person disappear to now having so many qualifications and restrictions that the trick seems a lot less impressive than my original proclamation.

That’s exactly what is happening with the various miraculous claims about some of the emerging self-driving driverless trucks and cars.

How so?

Well, let me take you behind the curtain so you can see how the magic is performed for many of self-driving truck and car headline stories.

You’ll be somewhat dismayed that road trips by so-called fully self-driving trucks and cars…