Is Google's autonomous vehicle prototype a threat to elderly women? So suggests a Florida GOP candidate for Congress.
Okay not every one is comfortable in with the idea of cars that drive themselves despite predictions they could start reaching the highway before the end of the decade. Some critics remain skeptical for technical reasons, while others are uncomfortable because the entire concept is just too futuristic to digest.
Nonetheless, Nevada and several other states have either adopted, or are considering, laws allowing “driverless” cars out on the road – while setting strict rules for their operation.
But in Florida, considered a key swing state in the 2012 presidential election, such support for the driverless car law has become a key issue in a Republican primary for the state Senate.
One of his opponents is accusing Republican Rep. Jeff Brandes, who sponsored Florida’s driverless car legislation, of promoting potentially hazardous vehicles.
Brandes opponent, Republican Jim Frisbee, even produced a video, which suggests driverless-cars could pose a threat to elderly women drivers. The attack ad his campaign has produced is not necessarily generating the sort of response the Luddite lawmaker might have anticipated, however.
It has garnered plenty of guffaws, with one wag on Salon.com suggesting Florida State Rep. Frisbee might want to followup spot showing a driverless and speeding vehicle falling off the edge of the flat earth.
Most states that have adopted the driverless car legislation, such as California and Nevada, see the rule as way to spur some additional economic development.
Automakers, meanwhile, are betting that autonomous vehicles could very well become a reality over the next decade. Some preliminary technologies, such as automatic collision avoidance, auto parking and pedestrian detection, are already moving into the mass market.
So far, such smart systems as Volvo’s City Safety – which can brake without a motorist’s intervention – have resulted in a measurable drop in collisions, according to the trade group the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.