Upcoming innovations in technology

With the rise of AI usage, along with various other technologies, the public has begun using them, which could change how we operate as a society. The public use of self-driving cars has also been increasing, and even a taxi service was created using them. Some companies have also begun using drones to deliver packages to customers and certain locations. Overall, the world is starting to change because of this technology, and could change for both the better and for the worse.

Waymo, an autonomous taxi (robotaxi) company, has been utilizing various new technologies, including LIDAR and AI that leverages cameras and radar. This has enabled them to develop a taxi service that eliminates the need for human drivers, allowing customers to reach various locations with precision. However, there are many advantages and disadvantages of this service. Firstly, one of the major problems with it is that AI is not perfect, and it will make mistakes, which could be lethal or cause major property damage. An AI camera might misinterpret something, like a work site or parked car, as something else, and might try to go through it. Also, if it were to do something illegal like this, and the police pull the taxi over, what are they supposed to do? Should we blame the company, or can they somehow blame the AI? Another disadvantage of this is job displacement, as it would put people who work for Uber, Lyft, and independent taxi companies out of business, forcing them to find other jobs elsewhere. This could lead to people losing their homes and struggling to make ends meet.

However, there are several benefits to robotaxis. For instance, they eliminate driver distractions, such as checking our phones or looking out the window. The AI is always active and ready to go when the light turns green. Another benefit would be traffic, as it would be able to effectively communicate with Google Maps or Waze, finding the quickest route that avoids traffic and making it much more efficient for the customer to get to their destination. The concept of robotaxis is theoretically sound, but it remains a major work in progress, and they need to devise a solution to these problems.

Now, imagine being able to order pizza and have a drone deliver it to you in just minutes. This idea has already become a reality in Sweden, marking a hopeful beginning for drone delivery to other countries, and possibly even the entire US. Now, the idea of drone delivery has been a thing for a while, and some companies are beginning to use it, like Wing, Zipline, and Amazon Prime Air. Still, one of the first hot food delivery systems, called Aviant, has made it possible to keep food hot and ready for the customer to enjoy, even during the winter months. In Sweden, Aviant has begun a test of delivering food around Gustavsberg, and it has been a complete success.

Overall, the concept of drone delivery is promising, but it also has its downsides. First, drone delivery is a much faster process than a delivery driver, since the drone can bypass traffic and fly right over obstacles to get to the customer quickly and efficiently. Similarly to the robotaxis, one significant disadvantage of drone deliveries is that many people lose jobs, since these delivery companies wouldn’t need someone to drive packages, mail, food, etc. to customers. Another downside is that people could try to knock the drones out of the sky and steal the packages, or bad weather conditions could knock the drone down. This would result in numerous broken drones, which are expensive. Losing a drone would cost them a significant amount of money. 

With these new inventions soon to be used worldwide in the near future, they will change our society and world in many ways. Only time will tell if these new robotaxis and drones will be beneficial, and hopefully, the advantages will outweigh the problems that we could experience if we use them.

Jack Butler is a senior member of the Multimedia Journalism class.

About the Author

John Butler

Author

View All Posts