The Glorious Future

(Image from the Guardian)

"The car will be the smartest device that people will own"
Former Motorola and Cisco executive Padmasree Warrior has joined electric carmaker NextEV in Silicon Valley. She [bold added]

thinks the auto industry is starting to look a lot like the cellphone business just before the iPhone shook things up....

"In the next decade, the car will be the smartest device that people will own, and NextEV wants to bring the mobile Internet experience to the vehicle. In other words, why can’t your car be as easy to own, operate, update and personalize as your smartphone?"

Time: "The computer is simply a better driver than a human."
Let us count the ways:

Better at keeping its eyes on other drivers; better at maintaining a steady cruising speed and thereby maximizing fuel efficiency; better at parsing GPS data, weather data, traffic data–any and all kinds of data, really–and better at making rapid-fire adjustments.

The computer doesn’t get distracted by a spouse, kids or the jerk who just made an illegal lane change. It doesn’t sneak a glimpse at Snapchat, or fumble with a leaky burrito, or steer with its knees while playing air guitar. The computer couldn’t blink even if it wanted to. It never says yes to a fourth chardonnay, never convinces itself that weed improves its driving. Asking directions is a computer’s favorite activity, and unless ordered to, the computer never falls asleep.

In the glorious future car "owners" will not be able to control the object sitting in their driveway. For one thing, they will not be able to turn it off and on. They cannot

a) pull the plug because the car runs on batteries,
b) disconnect the batteries because the car will be hermetically sealed like new laptops today, or
c) drain the car of electricity and/or gas because it automatically goes to a refueling station.

Given the advancement of artificial intelligence, it won't just be the smartest device in the household but will be smarter than any person in the household. Also, there will be a backdoor that will allow the NSA, the car manufacturer, and/or Chinese hackers to take control of "your" car, which, to repeat, is smarter than you. You have been warned.

I am definitely keeping the old VW.

1983's Christine: Life catches up to art.