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Back in August, when Uber began to roll out their self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, I was far from a fan. Is automation really that dope? Sure, humans are flawed, but I’d take the elderly Korean woman pulling the Jersey slide across the parkway over a robotic taxi cab any day of the week.
At the time of the announcement, I said the following:
Have we learned nothing from science fiction? The obvious example is The Terminator (1, 2, 3, 4, AND 5), but in reality, Hollywood has been trying to warn us of the incoming robot invasion for decades. There’s been action dramas like A.I., I, Robot, Ex Machina, The Matrix. There have been kids movies such as Wall-E. Hell, there was even a f*cking love story: Her. This year, another artificial intelligence movie, Morgan, will hit theaters. The warning signs are all there, we’re just choosing to ignore them.
I’m kind of kidding. But not really. I mean seriously, once the ‘time being’ is over, you’re telling me there are going to be a bunch of emotionless/fearless robots ripping it next to me on the I95, and I’m just supposed to be chill with that? Nah.
So now, half a year later, am I glad that one of these things flipped itself over in the middle of the desert No. But is telling people ‘I told you so’ always awesome? You bet your ass.
Via NBC:
According to Tempe police, it was headed south on McClintock Drive when another vehicle turned left in front of the Uber at Don Carlos Drive.
They crashed and the Uber rolled onto its side.
Tempe police said nobody was injured in the crash and that a person was behind the wheel of the Uber. Police aren’t sure if the person was in control of the car when it crashed.
“We are continuing to look into this incident and can confirm we had no backseat passengers in the vehicle,” a spokesperson for Uber said.
Uber has suspended its pilot program for driverless cars and launching an investigation into the incident.
Chalk up another point for mankind.
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