Really, even map apps. Those just convert to glorified ToDo apps, where you say where you need to be at what time and the AV figures out how to get you there. Showing your position on a map is just more of a curiosity, like the airplane in-flight scenes
Eh… It can still be useful when setting a destination.
A) Sometimes you want to travel to a place that you’re not familiar with the name of, but know the location of. If you can find it on a map, you can use the map to indicate where you want to go. As it’s a non-verbal way of indicating destination, it could also be useful for some types of disability accommodation.
B) Sometimes you want to travel to a place that doesn’t have a formal name or address. If, say, you’re trying to get to a particular and rather obscure outdoor recreation site, your only choice besides pointing it out on a map would be to tell the car precise GPS coordinates, which could be very cumbersome to input. And since GPS coordinates are difficult to memorize, the user would probably have to consult a map to find out what the coordinates are in the first place.
C) Seeing the destination displayed on the map helps ensure there was no miscommunication between the passenger and the vehicle, confirming that it’s actually headed to the correct destination. (No matter how much you optimize and perfect the car’s communication software, it’s still communicating with a fallible human, so miscommunication and misunderstanding remains possible. If an incorrect destination has been set, it’s best to detect and correct that as soon as possible, and having a map available would help for that.)
All joking aside, though, maybe autonomous vehicles don’t need a ‘brake pedal’ specifically, but I do think that for safety’s sake, they do need some kind of emergency kill switch accessible to passengers in the interior. Something that will bring the vehicle to a stop as soon as safely possible and then ensure that the doors can be opened from the inside.
Eh… It can still be useful when setting a destination.
A) Sometimes you want to travel to a place that you’re not familiar with the name of, but know the location of. If you can find it on a map, you can use the map to indicate where you want to go. As it’s a non-verbal way of indicating destination, it could also be useful for some types of disability accommodation.
B) Sometimes you want to travel to a place that doesn’t have a formal name or address. If, say, you’re trying to get to a particular and rather obscure outdoor recreation site, your only choice besides pointing it out on a map would be to tell the car precise GPS coordinates, which could be very cumbersome to input. And since GPS coordinates are difficult to memorize, the user would probably have to consult a map to find out what the coordinates are in the first place.
C) Seeing the destination displayed on the map helps ensure there was no miscommunication between the passenger and the vehicle, confirming that it’s actually headed to the correct destination. (No matter how much you optimize and perfect the car’s communication software, it’s still communicating with a fallible human, so miscommunication and misunderstanding remains possible. If an incorrect destination has been set, it’s best to detect and correct that as soon as possible, and having a map available would help for that.)
All joking aside, though, maybe autonomous vehicles don’t need a ‘brake pedal’ specifically, but I do think that for safety’s sake, they do need some kind of emergency kill switch accessible to passengers in the interior. Something that will bring the vehicle to a stop as soon as safely possible and then ensure that the doors can be opened from the inside.