Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"Money to me is freedom, and freedom is essential. Money allows me to say that I will now devote my life to being me, rather than putting on my shoes and tie, and going to an office every day."
- Robert Silverberg
 |
| Laws Against Human Drivers | ||
| The idea that autonomous vehicles should be the only cars on the road, for safety. |
As far as I know, this is the first reference to this idea.
| Heavy penalties, brought to the equivalent of attempted manslaughter, were to be applied to any one found driving manually-controlled machines. Not that anyone would have dared. It was impossible in that tear of traffic for an humble brain to respond quickly enough to avoid almost instant anhihilation. |
| Technovelgy from Photo Control,
by Bernard Brown. Published by Amazing Stories in 1934 Additional resources -
|
Isaac Asimov made the same point in Sally:
The thought makes me feel old. I can remember when there wasn't an automobile in the world with brains enough to find its own way home. I chauffeured dead lumps of machines that needed a man's hand at their controls every minute. Every year machines like that used to kill tens of thousands of people.
The automatics fixed that. A positronic brain can react much faster than a human one, of course, and it paid people to keep hands off the controls. You got in, punched your destination and let it go its own way.
We take it for granted now, but I remember when the first laws came out forcing the old machines off the highways and limiting travel to automatics. Lord, what a fuss. They called it everything from communism to fascism, but it emptied the highways and stopped the killing, and still more people get around more easily the new way.
Compare to the similar statement that only autonomous cars should be allowed on public roads made by Arthur C. Clarke in his 1976 novel Imperial Earth.
Good old Matthew. He stayed in the garage most of the day now, but then he was the granddaddy of all positronic-motored cars. Those were the days when blind war veterans, paraplegics and heads of state were the only ones who drove automatics. But Samson Harridge was my boss and he was rich enough to be able to get one. I was his chauffeur at the time.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Photo Control
More Ideas
and Technology by Bernard Brown
Tech news articles related to Photo Control
Tech news articles related to works by Bernard Brown
Laws Against Human Drivers-related
news articles:
- Autonomous Cars: Who Is Responsible For Driving?
- No Human Drivers By 2040 - Israel
- Tesla Autopilot's 40 Percent Crash Reduction
- When Will The Feds Ban Human Drivers?
| Tele-Driving Offers Jobs For Tele-Drivers, Not AIs |
| GM Scraps Cruise Origin Robotaxi With No Steering Wheel |
| GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car |
| 'Autonomous' Waymo Improves Driving With Remote Human Operators |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'If the biological robots were not living creatures, they were certainly very good imitations.'
"Everybody and his dog, it seemed, wanted to live out in the country; transportation and communication were no longer isolating factors."
'... the new typewriter that could be talked to, and which transposed the spoken sound into typed words.'
'... underneath they consisted of networks of cooling tubes against the skin.'
'My cars talk to one another. I have no doubt about it...'
'... the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell.'
