Unexplored Territory

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

And who would you blame ... yourself or the manufacturer?

Ace and I were watching tv the other night, and a commercial from Lexus came on. It was a view of a steering wheel, and a shot of the car parking itself.

I had heard of this technology, but didn't think that it was ready to hit the American streets yet. Apparently it is just around the corner.

Lexus has its version, as does Toyota.

But my question is this:

When your computer malfunctions because the parking assistant sensor did not properly calculate the distance between the car behind you and your car, who will be cited? You? Or Toyota?

And have we really become SO lazy that we need to have a car do all the parking?

In Ohio, we are not required to parallel park for our driving test, but we do need to go through a pylon obstacle course, which resembles parallel parking. I think it is the only way that the State Highway Patrolmen can handle all those driving tests so they don't have to endure the rush of adrenaline every time a 16 year old is charged with parallel parking on Main Street, USA.

But now, can an insolent teenager look the driving instructor/test giver in the eye and say "sure I'll parallel park the car ... let me set up my computer, dude."

So ... who passes the test? The car?

I am sure that states will have to re-write some legislature to make certain that the driving portion of the test needs to be 100 percent completed by a human.

Of course, I was the one who kept saying that when I learned to drive, all I would have to do was push a button and wait for the car to drive itself.

It might not be that close, but it is getting there.

3 Comments:

Bellezza said...: It's like the cash registers that tell the employees how much change to give you. I'm afraid we're losing ALL of our reasoning capabilities! Pretty soon, my job will be obsolete: just get a computer to teach the children. Heck, a computer wouldn't get aching feet. :); 8:30 PM
Colleen said...: I have no clue how that would even work. I would hate someone to try that next to my car. I can barely park myself let alone trust the car to do it for me!; 11:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Forget about the citation, can you even imagine the insurance claims for fautly computers?

My bet is that the insurance companies will increase rates for those that drive cars with this feature ...; 1:16 AM

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I'm a mom of three peeps ... Queen Bee, The Door Man, and the Chandelier Monkey, and wife to Ace, the Helpful Hardware Man. I created this space to get away from the people known as my inlaws, and because life with three kids and a hubby is all Unexplored Territory.

The nine-year-old who seems to be growing older every minute, has an opinion and a comment for everything, and has a true servant's heart.

The seven-year-old who loves the organization of things, will someday be someone's therapist because of his kind soul, and will more than likely be living with us until he is 40 years old.

The five-year-old with the 13-year-old attitude, who has a dictator's personality, asks you to watch her all the time and say "hold on" to keep your attention, and will someday come home on the back of some dude's motorcycle with 10 tatts and a body piercing or two.

The man of the house, the fixer of things, the winner of prizes, and the only person in his family to escape the South.