Article ID: CBB202538969

The attachments of ‘autonomous’ vehicles (December 2021)

unapi

The ideal of the self-driving car replaces an error-prone human with an infallible, artificially intelligent driver. This narrative of autonomy promises liberation from the downsides of automobility, even if that means taking control away from autonomous, free-moving individuals. We look behind this narrative to understand the attachments that so-called ‘autonomous’ vehicles (AVs) are likely to have to the world. Drawing on 50 interviews with AV developers, researchers and other stakeholders, we explore the social and technological attachments that stakeholders see inside the vehicle, on the road and with the wider world. These range from software and hardware to the behaviours of other road users and the material, social and economic infrastructure that supports driving and self-driving. We describe how innovators understand, engage with or seek to escape from these attachments in three categories: ‘brute force’, which sees attachments as problems to be solved with more data, ‘solve the world one place at a time’, which sees attachments as limits on the technology’s reach and ‘reduce the complexity of the space’, which sees attachments as solutions to the problems encountered by technology developers. Understanding attachments provides a powerful way to anticipate various possible constitutions for the technology.

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Authors & Contributors
Amir, Sulfikar
Bloomfield, Brian P.
Borch, Christian
Loh, Shi-Lin
Pinch, Trevor J.
Randell, Richard W.
Journals
Science, Technology, and Human Values
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
Social Studies of Science
Transfers
The Bridge: Journal of the National Academy of Engineering
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society
Publishers
MIT Press
Rowman & Littlefield
The MIT Press
Concepts
Automobiles
Science and technology studies (STS)
Technology and society
Autonomous vehicles
Technological innovation
Land transportation
People
Pinch, Trevor J.
Charles Perrow
Time Periods
21st century
20th century
Places
United States
Japan
New Zealand
Institutions
European Commission
Nissan Motor Company Ltd.
Volvo Car Corporation
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
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