Emerging Technologies 2
Self-Driving Cars: Save the Passenger and Run Over the Pedestrian?
The looming entry of emerging technologies like self-driving cars in the automotive industry will most likely reduce road fatalities but also poses a difficult moral dilemma. If your car has to make a choice, will it hit pedestrians on the road or veer off the road and put your life in danger?
The big challenge
An autonomous driving system requires programmers to develop an algorithm to make crucial decisions and funny enough, these will be based on ethics rather than on technology. According to a study, whose findings were released and published in the journal Science last week, figuring out how to build ethical self-driven cars is one of the biggest challenge in Artificial Intelligence.
Not all crashes can be avoided
With autonomous vehicles, you can expect a reduction in air pollution plus a host of other social benefits. In fact, the study was keen to point out that adoption of these cars will eliminate up to 89% of traffic accidents witnessed today. However, not all can be avoided. For instance, the autonomous vehicle (hereby abbreviated as an AV) may avoid hitting several pedestrians by swerving and hitting a passerby or it may be faced with the tough choice of sacrificing its own passenger in order to save the lives of many.
What’s your take?
When a number of people were asked about what they thought about AVs and the ethical decisions they had to make, they (people) responded in different ways. 3 in every 4 people said it would be more ethical for the car to sacrifice its passenger rather than hit 10 pedestrians. 19% said they would buy a self-driven car if it meant that a loved one might be sacrificed for the ‘greater good’. What’s your take on this? Do you think that regulation of the automotive industry with emphasis on autonomous vehicles will be the solution?
Top Megatrends in Manufacturing
A new era has dawned in the manufacturing industry which is largely driven by digitalization, information technology and customization. These changes can be defined by several megatrends that are sweeping across the manufacturing footprint.
The pros and cons of the Digital Age
Information technology, along with other emerging technologies, are causing a dynamic and continuous change in the ways things get done. For example, smartphones today are miniaturized, have high processing capabilities and are way cheaper than their counterparts from the 60s.
On one hand while this can be a good thing, it also has the power to disrupt whole industries and reshape the workforce like the extinction of weavers and camera film makers.
But new technology and innovation brings with it new processes and advanced business models. For example, 3D printing is enabling the mass production and customization of products by small firms. Other emerging technologies to look out for include nanotechnology.
Big Data and Real-Time Information
The capacity to process large volumes of data for economic purposes has transformed customer care across retail and finance sectors. Big Data also plays a crucial role in manufacturing, with the fast-track incorporation of information technology. This will lead to more accurate forecasting and analysis of plant performance.
Big Data is buoyed by open platforms and crowdsourcing, which enable customer interaction like never before. The design, distribution and service is slated to get a complete overhaul with manufacturers becoming more knowledgeable.
Revolutionizing the workforce
The demographics of the workforce are rapidly changing with 10,000 baby boomers retiring each day. This is a cause of worry among manufacturers who see the institutional knowledge being lost and finding it hard to replace them with millennials who are disinterested in manufacturing jobs. Today, manufacturers are in dire need of a new wave of workforce that is equipped to work on the 21st-century shop floor.
