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"I suspect that religion is a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species. And that's one of the interesting things about contact with other intelligences: we could see what role, if any, religion plays in their development."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Automated Taxi | ||
| A driverless taxicab. |
| ...he spotted the well-dressed shape of his target hailing an automated taxi...
Spotting his pursuer approaching rapidly, a frantic Taneer had to wait for the door to open before he could throw himself inside the cab. While the automated vehicle's voice inquired politely as to where its passenger wished to go, Taneer yelped wildly, "Security, security!" "I have already locked the doors," the cab assured him in calm, unthreatening, preprogrammed tones. "Destination, please?" ...he urgently addressed the vehicle's AI."Can't we go any faster? I'm already running late." Since the taxi utilized sophisticated electronic sensors to perceive its surroundings, the traditional forward windshield existed only to allow fares to see where they were going. The vehicle was as aware of this as its passenger. "As you can see, sir, this is a very busy street, and I am forbidden by law and by coding from forcing a path..." All were equipped with the same city-regulated programming. |
| From Sagramanda,
by Alan Dean Foster. Published by Pyr in 2006 Additional resources -
|
The robotic or automated taxi is a frequently explored theme in sf; see Tin Cabby from Cities in Flight [1957], the autocab from Between Planets [1951] and the autonomic cab from The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch [1964].
There are real-life attempts to create automated taxis; see ULTra - driverless automatic taxi and the RobuCAB Robotic Taxi.
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'Solved the problem to some extent by devising rigid metallic clothing...'
'When you buy one of them, you don't need to tie up to an electric outlet.'
'The robot drew his cab up before Eric's modest six-room bungalow.'
'Hello, Europa... Is this your robot I'm looking at, in sector 94?'
What other robots are strong enough to carry you? Do you want them to do so?
