HUFFINGTON
09.29.13
COURTESY OF CLIFFORD NASS
DRIVER ON BOARD
to a human when complex situations arise, much as planes’ autopilot systems ask pilots for help
in emergencies. As one report
authored by researchers at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently noted, “driverless
is really driver-optional.”
Nass’ biggest fear is that unless
car-human collaboration is better understood, self-driving cars
could prove even more dangerous
than the existing, imperfect automobile technology.
“One of the great ironies is
that autonomous cars are much
more dangerous, but not while
they’re being autonomous,” Nass
says. “They’re dangerous because of the driver taking over
from the situation.”
Nass has spent more than 25
years studying how people speak to,
look at, criticize, make friends with
and lie to machines. He’s examined
how sad drivers respond to peppy
virtual voices