Since the emergence of science fiction as a genre, children and adults alike have dreamed of driverless cars, perhaps floating through or above metropolises in the distant future. Now, Emilio Frazzoli and his team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working with their colleagues in Singapore on the Future Urban Mobility project at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology to potentially turn this dream into a reality.
Frazzoli and his SMART colleagues are researching autonomous vehicles and have recently made strides with their technology, according to a Saturday Boston Globe article. Frazzoli and MIT colleague Karl Iagnemma founded startup nuTonomy to develop a fleet of driverless taxis, which are currently being tested in Singapore.
In the past month, nuTonomy’s autonomous vehicles passed their first driving test, according to a MIT News article, adding fuel to the competitive fire among high-tech companies like Google.
Although nuTonomy is Cambridge-based, and therefore a local Boston startup, it is unlikely that Boston residents will see the autonomous vehicles on Commonwealth Avenue any time soon. nuTonomy is proposing the autonomous vehicles as a possible alternative to public transportation in areas that deal with heavy traffic problems — an umbrella under which Boston would undeniably fall — their price tag is most likely a hefty consideration.
Boston’s current public transportation nuisance, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, is theoretically accessible to any and all members of the commonwealth. Any sort of change to its reach affects those who are not economically advantaged enough to afford an Uber or Lyft to get around, for example. Implementing a fleet of driverless taxis could exacerbate that gap and further ostracize those groups.
For every new technology developed, autonomous cars included, jobs are called into question. By implementing driverless cars, you are intrinsically eliminating the job of a driver and, consequently, a potential livelihood.
The question of safety also quickly arises when one mentions “driverless taxis.” In an age when a dam in a small town in New York can be hacked by an Iranian group, what is stopping autonomous vehicles from being remotely infiltrated? When you buckle up your seatbelt as the driver of the car, you know you are in control. But who is really in control in a driverless vehicle?
Pedestrians and the winding roads of Boston are other concerns regarding the fleet possibly taking the streets. Commonwealth Avenue already has an unfortunate record with pedestrian accidents. Adding vehicles with no human driver traveling at high speeds down a major artery of the city is not the most appealing idea.
The idea of effective, driverless cars in Boston is tempting, particularly for those of us who rely on the notoriously unreliable Green Line, but it calls to mind the larger problem of mobility in Boston and the proper allocation of technology across the city.
The city’s public spheres are severely lacking, particularly in terms of transportation. The MBTA is severely underfunded and lacks the resources for immediate change of any kind. While our elected officials have attempted to implement change in our public spheres — think General Electric and Verizon — more must be done. We have such great minds like the SMART team working just across the river, and our officials would be foolish to not explore those options.
The division between the public and private sectors aside, the technological capital within the Boston area is unbelievably prevalent. Though driverless vehicles may not be the answer, the industry’s purposeful development should be viewed as a launching platform for collaborative conversation. The two entities should come together to repurpose the technology oozing from the 85 private colleges and universities in the area and show the world Boston’s true potential.
