Four Ways Google's Self-Driving Cars Will Change the World – Three Ways They Will Ruin Everything

3. Partial Control First, No Control Later In the beginning, self-driving cars will be just like the cars we have today. You will be able to override the auto controls at any time and take the wheel. Long-term, however, these manual features are likely to slip away. To be fully effective, self-driving cars will need to be just that: entirely self-driven. To be safe, they will need to communicate with each other and take control of the road. And in order to do that, they will need to resemble the system in Minority Report, in which the highway was turned into a giant track of cars that automatically drive to a particular location. If drivers could interfere with that system and control their own vehicles, they would ultimately bring it down. Thus, Google's self-driving cars would lead to a world in which we are no longer drivers – simply passengers. Some people love this idea, but I don't. I would rather have the ability to control my own vehicle. 2. No Accountability Whatsoever Without human drivers, we won't have anyone to hold accountable for accidents…except Google. But if Google is in charge, how will we proceed when a deadly accident occurs? Do we get to sue the search engine giant? Will we have an insurance system that requires Google to pay for certain kinds of repairs without forcing us to endure a lifetime of legal proceedings? These are a just a few of the questions that need to be raised before Google or any other corporation should be allowed to influence, take control of, or reformat the way we drive. 1. Hacking Gone Awry Whether you love or loathe today's group of hackers, the thought of letting them or anyone else gain control of a self-driving vehicle is absolutely horrifying. Google will surely claim that hacking cannot happen. But these cars will be equipped with internal computers. They will be connected to the Internet and to global positioning systems. And, in time, the cars will likely be linked to each other. All told, this opens the door for an unbearably violent cyber attack that would turn our freeways into giant morgues. Follow me @LouisBedigian