In Stanford One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence there is quite extensive mention of the use of artificial intelligence for transportation. The authors are quite optimistic about this technology being the future of almost all transportation segments. They even claim that it will be ‘one of the first domains’ in which the general public will asked to trust AI. However, I personally believe that the use of AI in automobiles is still far in the future, with it not being as close to mass adoption as the authors seem to think it is. 

The main reasons that the use of AI in cars is being promoted is time and saftey. The researchers believe that, eventually, there will be a connected network of cars driving along the highway. However, the most savings in cost, time and lives will only be significant when a large number of people opt into using self driving cars. If self driving care are not mass adopted, the possibility of an accident does not decrease dramatically nor does one save much time. 

As mentioned elsewhere in this paper, there is a big concern about AI affecting the job market. This involves the use of AI in self driving cars too. Self-driving cars will definitely make many jobs in the transportation sector redundant. This would include taxi drivers as well as drivers in the freight transportation. This issue might actually slow down the adoption of AI in the public. Legal restrictions may hold the technology back from the public.

Although self driving cars would make driving safer there is always the chance of an accident. In this case there is still no clear legal guidelines to how an accident would be handled. Will the manufacturer or the owner of the car be held guilty?

Even if AI in transportation reaches a significantly high level there are always cases in which human intuition is necessary in making driving maneuvers. Its still unclear how self driving cars will handle hazards like roadblocks or areas with unique driving rules. The cars are also still not able to operate when in extreme weather conditions. Rain and snow can also affect sensors, hampering the car’s ability to work smoothly. 

We are now in a day and age where privacy is becoming a big concern, partly due to hacking. Self driving cars, when they become mainstream, will continuously be relying on location and user information. This will become a big pool of data with millions of bytes of this information being exchanged every second. This could result in privacy concerns for the general public. There is also the issue of hackers getting control of the vehicle’s software and causing harm. 

One of the biggest current problems with AI in cars is that of ethical dilemma. In the case of having to make a choice how would the computer be able to justify injuring or killing one person instead of the other? There could be ethical problems which a machine might struggle to deal with. If it was forced to chose between killing people how would it pick? There is also the question of how the computer would prioritize one being or creature over another. 

The implementation of AI in cars, although progressing, is still far from being mass adopted. Although strides are being made there are still significant hurdles that need to be conquered before AI can be seamlessly integrated into our lives. 