Our future robot car overlords might do anything from safely carting us around town to —and who knows, on occasion, maybe they’ll get a little confused. We all do! Artist published a fun video last week showing a goofy scenario where that maybe could happen to a self-driving car. It’s neat to watch.
The point is that, at least for now, . A self-driving car needs to be able to read the roadway, dotted lines and all. Bridle that he’s super into autonomous cars right now, and that he’s currently attempting to build a self-driving research vehicle of his own. At first blush, I took a very general view of the Trap—that it’s meant to illustrate the technology has some limits. Speaking to Creators, Bridle offered a of what’s behind it:
The Trap falls into the category of resistance, while the attempt to build my own car is a process of understanding how the dominant narratives of these technologies are produced, and could be changed. I don’t see why cab drivers of the future shouldn’t be chalking white lines on side streets to derail self-driving Ubers which are putting them out of work, and I also think we need more eyes and hands on the tools which are shaping all of our futures.
Yeah, it’s a bit of performance art—the car, for instance, ; it’s the one he’s currently refitting with self-driving tech—but there’s certainly much to be said about and what it’d take to actually get people invested in the idea that they’ll work. In a way, I think Bridle’s piece managed to capture that sentiment in a nice 90-second clip, which you can check out below.