Driverless carsFBI: driverless cars could be used as bombs-on-wheels

Driverless cars a boon to terrorists // Source: presstv.ir

Whether or not a driverless car, from Google or any other company, ever makes it to market, the FBI thinks it may be a “game changing” vehicle which could dramatically change high-speed car chases so that the pursued vehicle would have an advantage over the pursuing car. An agency report also warned that such cars may be used as “lethal weapons.”

In an unclassified but restricted report obtained by the Guardian under a public records request, the FBI predicts that autonomous cars “will have a high impact on transforming what both law enforcement and its adversaries can operationally do with a car.”

In a section called Multitasking, the report notes that “bad actors will be able to conduct tasks that require use of both hands or taking one’s eyes off the road which would be impossible today.”

One scenario could be suspects shooting at pursuers from getaway cars which are driving themselves.

The newspaper reports that self-driving cars use lidar (laser ranging), radar, video cameras, and GPS technology to build up a digital 3D map of their surroundings, including buildings, roads, pedestrians, and other vehicles. The driverless cars can then be programmed to navigate safely so they reach their destination while avoiding obstacles and (usually) obeying the rules of the road.

The report, written by agents in the Strategic Issues Group within the FBI’s Directorate of Intelligence, says, “Autonomy … will make mobility more efficient, but will also open up greater possibilities for dual-use applications and ways for a car to be more of a potential lethal weapon that it is today.”

“Dual-use” applies to the use of such cars by criminals, who might override safety features to ignore traffic lights and speed limits, or that terrorists who might program explosive-packed cars to become self-driving bombs-on-wheels.

Companies which look to produce automatic cars emphasize their safety. Google says of its latest driverless vehicles: “They’ll be designed to operate safely and autonomously without requiring human intervention. Our software and sensors do all the work. The vehicles will be very basic but they will take you where you want to go at the push of a button.”

The FBI report concede that if operated properly, the fully autonomous vehicles will help to reduce the number of accidents. “The risk that distraction or poor judgment leading to collision that stems from manual operation would be substantially reduced,” according to its report.

In the United States, about eighty people die every year in crashes involving emergency vehicles, while London’s Metropolitan police cars have experienced as many as a dozen traffic accidents a day. The report says that the autonomous cars can “optimize” three-point turns and similar difficult maneuvers which might otherwise delay responders pursuing a suspect or heading for a crime scene.

The FBI report also notes that tailing suspects will be simpler with the next generation of robot cars. “Surveillance will be made more effective and easier, with less of a chance that a patrol car will lose sight of a target vehicle,” says the report.

“In addition, algorithms can control the distance that the patrol car is behind the target to avoid detection or intentionally have a patrol car make opposite turns at intersections, yet successfully meet up at later points with the target.”

The FBI says it is likely that autonomous cars could be approved by Congress for use by the American public within the next five to seven years.

The Guardian notes that at least for the time being, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies should not worry about chasing automatic cars: Google’s current state-of-the-art vehicle is limited to just 25mph.