Self - driving motorcar are within humans ’ grasp – but as lover of skill fiction , our brains ca n’t help but marvel whether the Revelation will arrive in the form of a fleet of VW Beetles follow up on human prey across the desolate landscape that was once London free from an autonomous vehicle overlord . It is , of course , not conk out to take place , but the good news is that if it did , it seems a simple home seasoner could be our Jesus of Nazareth .
In 2017 , artistJames Bridledemonstrated how salt and an understanding of route markings could paralyse an independent vehicle by delivering run afoul messages . Two ring of saltiness around the vehicle , one in broken strips while the other is a block line , simultaneously tell it to go right in front and not to cross . The result?Autonomous Trap 001 .
The fun technological quirk is one that next models may be able to defeat , but it raises valid questions about the possible action of mass manipulating the environment in a elbow room that could break up a ego - driving motorcar ’s capacity to push itself . As it happens , take the experiment came with its own unique challenge , too .
“ I tend out of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks , and had to drive back to the near hamlet to grease one’s palms a few more kilo , ” Bridle toldVice . “ Luckily , salt , unlike bandwidth and computational power , is a somewhat cheap resource . Also , I should have pulled my trousers up for the video . ”
The trap patently caught the attending of newly - appoint Twitter CEO , Elon Musk , who also dabbles inautonomous vehicles . Responding to a now - suspended account Tweeting about the salt circle , Muskreplied , " Probably will pin a Tesla with the production Autopilot build , but wo n’t exploit with [ Full ego - Driving Capabilities ] . Using a ring of conoid would stop FSD though . "
Sabotaging salt circles aside , there have been some other downsides to self - push car raised in recent long time . Researchhas found that systems used in self - take car are n’t always very good at recognise darker cutis tones , meaning a person ’s chances of getting run over by one could be gamy if they ’re shameful .
For multitude experience dying about a ego - driving car ’s mental ability to spot them , in Japan , elephantine googly eyeswere trialed as an index number of the self-directed vehicle optical field .
“ If the car is not appear at the pedestrian , this imply that the car does not recognize the pedestrian , ” wrote the cogitation writer . “ Thus , pedestrians can judge that they should not cross the street , thereby avoiding likely dealings accidents . ”
depend like Brum 2.0 , the design aims to provide anthropomorphic comfort to pedestrians , but we ca n’t help but feel that at dark the eye might take a rather more predatory go .
Then again , if in doubt , simply get your salt and traffic cones out .
