Some Say That Emergency-Only AI Is Sorely Needed For Self-Driving Cars

Dr. Lance Eliot, AI Insider

[Ed. Note: For reader’s interested in Dr. Eliot’s ongoing business analyses about the advent of self-driving cars, see his online Forbes column: https://forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/]

I had just fallen asleep in my hotel room when the fire alarm rang out.

It was a few minutes past 2 a.m. and the hotel was relatively full and mainly had been quiet at this hour as most of the hotel guests had earlier retired for the evening. The sharp twang of the fire alarm pierced throughout the hallways and walls of the hotel. I could hear the sounds of people moving around in their hotel rooms as they quickly got up to see what was going on.

Fortunately,there was no sign of a fire, no smoke, no flames, and gradually even the most skeptical of guests went back to sleep.

It was a false alarm.

No complaints on my part since I’d rather have false alarms rather than no fire alarm system at all.

Emergency Systems That Save Lives

This discussion about fire alarms and fire protection illuminates some important elements about systems that are designed to help save human lives.