My wife and I were talking the other day about our town's newest resident, only this newcomer has no birth certificate, no social security card, no fingerprints. It does have a VIN and a license plate. It's our very own autonomous shuttle.
We were discussing one simple question:
Why?
What purpose does this automaton have anyway, I mean, other than the obvious? According to a story in our town's monthly newsletter, it goes slow and travels a route around the shopping center. If you're familiar with the place, the last thing we need is another slow-moving vehicle puttering around the streets.
And there's only room for a couple of people in the thing. It can't be that efficient.
Maybe it's the novelty aspect that fascinates people. Maybe it's a glimpse of the future that justifies having the thing around. I don't know--I'm not in charge of making such decision. I do know, if this is our future, there's no driver, steering wheel or pedals, it's low-speed that follows a fixed route and responds to obstacles in its way.
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