Thursday, July 17, 2014

be careful what you wish for

Driver-less vehicles? The Army sees them as a fine way to resupply in combat zones.
The Army wants to retrofit a portion of its tactical wheeled vehicle fleet with robotic brains so that unmanned trucks, not troops, are put in harm's way during resupply and route clearance missions.

Removing drivers from truck cabs also frees up soldiers to perform more complex tasks at a time when declining budgets are putting a premium on manpower.

The Marine Corps has been testing autonomous resupply and casualty evacuation by ground and by air at its Warfighting Laboratory and in field tests at various installations. Unmanned helicopters that fly pre-planned routes to forward operating bases in Afghanistan have already proven their worth in combat.
But they can also be used for evil purposes. The FBI fears they can be used as bombs.
Criminals could use driverless cars to evade law enforcement, shoot cops from the back of the vehicle, and "conduct tasks that require use of both hands or taking one’s eyes off the road which would be impossible today," according to an internal report obtained by The Guardian. The last concern was outlined in a section called "multitasking."

Another fear is that criminals will pack a driverless car with explosives and program it to drive itself into a target.
Since there are no Second Amendment issues involved here, maybe tough regulations will solve the problem. Right.

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