Will Robot Cars Drive Traffic Congestion off a Cliff?

Ooh, I dont know. I mean on the civilian side I work on computers for a living and I can tell you that it is not a matter of "if" it will fail, but "when."

I dont have a car with 100% of the fancy new stuff, but the minivan I bought for my wife has sensors in the side back and front, and a blind spot camera and a backup camera. All they do is beep of something gets too close and let you see things better. While the front sensors will hit the brakes if they detect something, if you've gotten to the point where that happens, you've already fudged up.

As cars get more computer controlled, I am conflicted. The techie in me is really excited to see cars get smarter and smarter! But Ixm also wary, as it stands I know ways to hack into the systems that are already in cars, I mean, from a security standpoint an XM radio is an open door for someone to get into the system and disable breaks, change things on the chip, set off alarms, and if you have an on star system, shutting the whole vehicle down in the middle of the freeway.

In short, its exciting, but be careful. And never, EVER, allow a computer system to assume sole responsibility for your safety when behind the wheel.