On November 5th an article in the Toronto Star dealt with the reality of driverless cars. Computer scientists and economists say the threat is no longer theoretical. Automated cars pose a threat to many Americans who drive for a living which are 2.9 million truckers and delivery drivers, 674,000 bus drivers and 181,000 cab drivers and chauffeurs. Already, in Pittsburg, there are driverless Uber taxis. Conversely, the self-driving Tesla car crashed in May as it failed to detect a tractor-trailer crossing its path. Frank Levy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said, ''Truck drivers are safe because a machine couldn't negotiate rush hour traffic without a helping hand.'' Some say driverless vehicles will not create much unemployment overall because a vehicle that is on the road 24 hours a day will need a lot of maintenance.
This writer thinks they may have computer operators on them, initially, instead of drivers. At present no one knows exactly what will happen; it could be after a period of trials and experimentation it will lead to more unemployment. If automation leads to massive unemployment overall there will be a reaction.
What form this will take we don't know. The worse case scenario would be the rise of the fascism we saw in the 1930's. The best would be a working class, who, through severe economic pressure, realize they can only solve their problems through co-operation with their fellow workers - lets hope so.
John Ayers.
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