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The New Volvo XC60 is the car that stops itself. With City Safety, Volvo is the first car company to offer this technology as a standard feature on one of its models.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DBf8GBVmME
Even though it seems to be a good safety feature, there could be many potential long-term threats.
- Increase Cognitive load: now there is one more feature to think about before you ignite your car.
- Dependency: This is the first step where computer is taking over the driving seat what if the driver is use to this feature and one day, for some reason its raining or the windshield is not clean
- Distraction: Think about a scenario where you are driving down a street and suddenly you experience sudden break. Well, you have just avoided an accident. However the car only stays still for just more than a second. Is that enough for you to react?
- Identification: car cannot identify humans or animals. That said, it would stop for other cars but would not care about dogs and little children.
I believe it’s a good first step however the technology is still very new. Instead of doing a field test in the real world, may be it should try to solve potential big questions.
The last thing we want is another accident because of this new “city safety” feature.
