What an appalling idea! — What my 3 year old thinks about Driverless Cars
My 3 year old figured today that driverless cars may be a reality by the time he will be old enough to drive a car. He is appalled at the very thought of such a monstrosity being unleashed on his dreams!
Being able to drive cars is probably the BIGGEST dream he has. His absolute favorite playtime is spending time in the car (under supervision of course) and learning about any and every part of the car. He already knows how various parts of the car work. Steering wheel, accelerator, clutch, brake, gear, engine, silencer, horn, wipers, wheels, hood, trunk, stepney and so on and so forth. He knows them all!
Back to the story… of how he came to know about the plans of Google & the likes to unleash the monstrosity called driverless cars. My normal car, a Hyundai Creta, is an automatic. On the other hand, the second car in the household, a Chevrolet Spark, has a manual transmission. The Creta was at the garage for some repairs and I was using the Spark today to drop him to the nursery today. He noticed me changing gears and asked me.
Him: Why do you need to change gears on the Spark but not on the Creta?
Me: The Creta knows how to change gears itself. But the Spark doesn’t. So I need to do it.
Him: Why? How does the Creta know it?
Me: The “uncles” at Hyundai who built it have taught the Creta how to do that.
Him: Why doesn’t the Spark know it?
Me: The “uncles” at Chevrolet who built it didn’t teach the Spark that.
Him: Oh! But you need to drive (steer) both of them. They both don’t know how to do that.
Me: Yes, they both haven’t been taught that yet.
Him: Will they learn that also?
Me: Not yet. But some other “uncles” are trying to teach cars how to drive themselves. In a few years time cars will know how to do that themselves.
Him: Will that happen by the time I become 18? (he knows he has to become 18 to drive!)
Me: Yes, I think so. It may happen by that time.
Him: Then I won’t get to drive cars that time?!?!
Me: *Uh oh!*……………………………………………
