My current event was about the Google car, which is an autonomous car capable of driving itself IN traffic. The article was from nytimes.com. The link - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/science/10google.html?_r=1&ref=technology Sebastian Thrun, the director of Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is the mastermind behind the project. The car is equipped with sensory cameras which give the car a 360 degree view of what's around it while driving. The only time the car was in an accident was when it was on a test drive and someone rear-ended it from behind while it was at a red light. How ironic.
My question to the class was "Are we as a society ready to put our lives in the hands of this technology?" And the other question was "If the car was to get into an accident who would be liable, the passenger behind the wheel or Google the developers?"
There was mixed thoughts about the technology. Of course this project will take many more years until it is ready to take on society. Some students thought it was not safe and we cannot trust it. What if the car malfunctions? Stuff like that.
People thought the person behind the wheel should be liable because they are capable of taking control of the car anytime. It is still their responsibility to make sure the road is safe.
Overall i thought this was a very interesting article and would like to see this product further in the future. But for now society is not ready for it.
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