Our host for the weekly provocative question challenge is Jewish Young Professional, aka JYP. She pointed out that this past Friday was National Autonomous Vehicles Day and asked us:

What are your thoughts on autonomous vehicles?

Let me first say that when it comes to driving, I’m a bit of a control freak. When I’m in the car, I have to be driving. If I’m a passenger in a car, I get very nervous. I feel like I’m putting my life in someone else’s hands, and I don’t like it. It takes all of my self control to not be continually criticizing the way the driver is driving.

So to leave the driving to an autonomous vehicle equipped with cameras and technology but no human driver is not something I have any interest in doing. All it would take is a close call where another driver does something stupid and I’m sure I would jump behind the wheel and take control of the vehicle.

I’m old, and at some point in the foreseeable future, the Department of Motor Vehicles might refuse to renew my driver’s license due to my age. My wife doesn’t like to drive, so she may not serve as a good backup plan. So when the point comes when I can no longer legally drive, I may have to take taxis or engage Uber or Lyft to get me where I need to go.

In the meantime, as long as I have a choice between having a human driver and an autonomous vehicle with no human driver, I will always choose the former. If it ever gets to the point where there is no choice, well, with any luck, I’ll be dead by then.