So was Lindsay Graham, of SC!
Interesting article 
I do have sympathy and/or empathy . . . forgive me, I don’t know the correct term . . . for the professor. But even the human brain ages and ceases to function
This kind of reminds me of that Star Trek episode . . . I think it was called “What are little girls made of” where a dying scientist transferred his consciousness to a robot or cyborg. But there was literally something lost in translation.
I suppose there will come a day . . . not in our lifetimes, in all likelihood . . . where automobiles can be controlled completely by our brainpower. When that day arrives, there will probably be fail-safes, in case we become distracted
There was also a Bruce Willis movie from several years back, when society pretty much stayed in their homes, and interacted with each other through physical avatars. It wasn’t one of his better movies, in my opinion.
Let’s bring this back to “self-driving” cars . . .
Once we have achieved self-driving cars will we work towards self-maintaining cars? I mean, when the car detects it has a problem will it do more than turn on the check engine light? Will it drive itself to the appropriate repair facility?
This is from a repair order handed to me at work last week:
“Customer states car was stalling both while driving and while sitting at a stop, so she took car to Valvoline for an oil change where they also recommended a serpentine belt. Check and advise.”
People don’t know how to take care of their cars, maybe the cars can do better themselves.
That is being done as part of the autonomous vehicles. It drives everyone to work and kids to school, then drives itself to shop for maintenance.
I’ve had my eye on those newer robot vacuum cleaners (I had an earlier Roomba model years ago) that, on their own, head back to the charger and hook up when then battery is low. Some models empty the dirt out, too, at that station when they feel full.
After they have “eaten” (charged) or “used the facilities” (evacuated waste) they find their way back right to where they left off and continue cleaning! Feel the magic!
CSA
That company is less then 2 miles from where I work.
I like the one that mows the lawn. I looked into it. My lawn is too big. But a great concept.
I can just imagine an IRobot Roomba or Shark robot car that goes and refuels itself or goes for maintenance/diagnostics/recalls/repairs/detailing when it’s needed.
All that work will be done by other robots. Somebody will have to program the robots to curse and throw tools or threaten to work someplace else when the repairs are a little tougher than anticipated! 
CSA
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Is the nut behind the wheel Elon Musk for all Teslas? Check out this article discussing the new Smart Summon feature for Teslas. Be very careful in a parking lot if you see a Tesla driving through the aisles.
indeed . . .
Were it possible to transport somebody from the middle ages to today’s time . . . they might feel that much of today’s technology was “magic”
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You wouldn’t have to go back as far as The Middle Ages, IMHO.
Imagine that you were demonstrating electric lights, TV, and microwave ovens to somebody from the middle of the 19th Century. These devices that we take for granted would be very difficult to explain to those folks, and they might assume that some kind of magic was involved.
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In our house that function is performed roboticly by the husband.
Speaking of nuts behind the wheel, even those who are not “nuts” may be a few cards short of a full deck in terms of intelligence. On Sunday afternoon, I was driving on congested US-1, in the area just North of Princeton. I was in the right lane, and just ahead of me in the left lane was a white Caddy with FL plates. Every intersection on that highway has large signs next to the overhead traffic lights stating “NO TURNS”. If somebody wants to make a left turn or a U-turn, many of the intersections have a jug handle, all of which are well marked.
So… perhaps you might have already guessed that the dolt driving the FL Caddy decided to stop in the left lane–next to the 3 ft high divider that obscures vision of the opposing lane–and attempted to make an illegal left turn! Even though the very large “NO TURNS” signs were beyond his comprehension, the honking of the cars behind him finally caused him to move ahead… very slowly. Because of how slowly he was driving, I said to my friend, “I think that this moron is going to pull the same stunt at the next intersection”, and–unfortunately, I was correct.
Because of the congested nature of the traffic, I was able to keep this idiot in view in my mirror through another 2 intersections, and–yup!–he attempted the same bone-headed maneuver at each intersection, and only proceeded ahead after loud honking. In the process, he passed at least 2 jug handles where he could have made his turn safely and legally.
I have heard of slow learners, but that Caddy driver gave new definition to that term.
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The moment is actually repairs itself in that shop, I ask a question of “why that human is still needed?” 
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If you read any study on the effect autonomous vehicles on jobs - you’ll see that the mechanic loosing their job is minuscule compared to the rest of the jobs.
It could easily have a negative job impact of tens of millions of jobs…and not just drivers.
Police, Fire, Insurance, Doctors, Nurses, people who build traffic lights…the list goes on.
It will create jobs in certain sectors, but the overall job impact will be negative.
I happen to re-read the Azimov’s robots sci-fi trilogy recently, and I really enjoyed his ingenious mind predicting the questions we will ask ourselves nowadays
If you can stick with it, this summarizes many of the topics being discussed in this thread-
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I do have to ask…all this automation is supposed to relieve us of a task here, a job there…etc. What may I ask are we going to do with all this surplus time that we will all be “enjoying”?
Wont have to leave your house to buy things, the stores will be gone anyway… wont have to drive, mow the lawn, do the dishes, laundry. Will we have a surrogate to handle the tedious day to day “human interaction component” for us as well?
What will we all be… uh… DOING? Everyone will be free to be on vacation everyday? Uh boy…that’d suck, for sure. To what end all this free time? Mayhem? Chaos? Debauchery? (whatever that is) Does make you wonder, doesn’t it?
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I don’t care to imagine what you’d be doing with all that extra time
Maybe I’m better off not knowing . . . ?! 
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Naw, it’s not about saving time but some don’t want humans driving because robots are safer. It’s all about controlling how people drive. They don’t want people to drink, or use phones, or drive with one hand, or brake with the left foot, or speed, or or or. It’s all about control and making more money while they are at it. So two generations from now, no one will know what a steering wheel is. What fun.
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Excellent question. No one knows. It does seem clear that there will be a lot more unemployment. We see that now with automation in manufacturing. When I worked in a steel mill, they employed 12,000 when all the product lines were running. Twenty years earlier, they employed 53,000 to make the same amount of steel products. I’m sure that automation has reduced the amount further.
One of the Democrat presidential candidates, John Yang, I think, wants to have a basic wage for all as an answer. It would be kinda like Social Security. I’m not sure how well that would work. The price of goods and services would have to pay for the universal income. None of the other candidates wants to talk about it, and traditional Republicans would definitely not be for it.
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