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Driverless lorries might be more susceptible to hijacking IMO, because the risk for the attackers will be lower, both with regards to the act itself since they

by yxlx 11y ago

Driverless lorries might be more susceptible to hijacking IMO, because the risk for the attackers will be lower, both with regards to the act itself since they won't meet opposition from another human and also if they're caught because theft of an object is a crime less severe when the attackers didn't cause direct (physical or emotional) harm or threat to a human.

mikro2nd 11y ago
I'd suspect the opposite: It's pretty damn hard to take control of a vehicle that lacks human-accessible controls. Furthermore, I'd expect autonomous vehicles carrying any sort of valued load to also include tamper-detection; the truck would be calling for help within milliseconds of an unauthorised entry attempt.
- nacs 11y ago
  Also, the truck carrying valuable load could have a security guard sitting/napping in it.
brbsix 11y ago
Seems pretty straightforward to stop one of these with an impromptu roadblock. However they've also got an array of sensors with which to record the hijackers and alert the authorities with, precise location and all.
- jasonjei 11y ago
  In a way, your point about authorities and highway patrol being alerted is actually a good thing. These trailers can go in lockdown and wait for authorities to arrive. Even if a human were on board, a silent alarm could be triggered without the human making any obvious moves for distress (perhaps a hidden panic button in case sensors don't trigger, assuming a human driver is required to be with the trailer). Also, trailers today aren't immune from hijacking/piracy if the driver isn't armed.
  - eru 11y ago
    You can also take into account that it is much harder to blackmail or threaten a computer with a gun.
iofj 11y ago
One can only hope so. Or that they have some other major disadvantage. This is going to prevent a large amount of people from earning a living. Additionally it's going to kill a decent segment of SMBs who do truck driving and cargo transport on roads. One more low-skilled job disappearing without replacement.
- RobinL 11y ago
  Tech moves on and usually displaces labour but so far hasn't created mass unemployment. Instead it's made us richer. At any point in time people are concerned by the job destruction caused by progress, but after it has happened rarely want to rewind and go back to the old ways. I'm curious - if you think this is a bad thing, are there technological innovations which have already happened which you would want to undo? How many jobs do you think it would create? GPS could provide be a good thought experiment.
  - clort 11y ago
    > Instead it's made us richer. some of us, anyway http://www.cbsnews.com/news/census-data-half-of-us-poor-or-low-income/ I wonder what it means when half of the richest country in the world lives in poverty..
    - RobinL 11y ago
      There are clearly serious problems with wealth and income distribution. However, the size of the pie and the distribution of it are different problems (although not independent). It doesn't follow that by prohibiting technological progress things would be more equal. I'm not sure what the relationship is between income distribution and progress; I think there are probably arguments both ways. For example, would income inequality be rising even if technological progress was not happening? Probably yes, from my reading of Pikkety. Those with capital would probably continue to accumulate more. But it would affect returns to capital so perhaps it's not so clear cut. Is income inequality increasing as a result of technological progress? Maybe, I guess? I'd be quite interested to see some real evidence either way because I don't think the answer is intuitive either way.
walshemj 11y ago
And I suspect that there will be gangs that help hack robot lorries to help refugees get onto trucks bound for the UK and other desirable countries.
unfamiliar 11y ago
It's the UK, we probably have enough CCTV cameras everywhere to trace a masked hijacker all they way back to their house. Add to that that the trucks will doubtless be recording everything that happens around them and be able to be remotely disabled, I doubt we will see any of them stolen. Plus, is any truck driver really going to go above and beyond to stop someone stealing TVs off the back of current trucks?

by yxlx 11y ago

mikro2nd 11y ago

I'd suspect the opposite: It's pretty damn hard to take control of a vehicle that lacks human-accessible controls. Furthermore, I'd expect autonomous vehicles carrying any sort of valued load to also include tamper-detection; the truck would be calling for help within milliseconds of an unauthorised entry attempt.

nacs 11y ago
Also, the truck carrying valuable load could have a security guard sitting/napping in it.

brbsix 11y ago

Seems pretty straightforward to stop one of these with an impromptu roadblock. However they've also got an array of sensors with which to record the hijackers and alert the authorities with, precise location and all.

jasonjei 11y ago
In a way, your point about authorities and highway patrol being alerted is actually a good thing. These trailers can go in lockdown and wait for authorities to arrive. Even if a human were on board, a silent alarm could be triggered without the human making any obvious moves for distress (perhaps a hidden panic button in case sensors don't trigger, assuming a human driver is required to be with the trailer). Also, trailers today aren't immune from hijacking/piracy if the driver isn't armed.
- eru 11y ago
  You can also take into account that it is much harder to blackmail or threaten a computer with a gun.

iofj 11y ago

One can only hope so. Or that they have some other major disadvantage. This is going to prevent a large amount of people from earning a living. Additionally it's going to kill a decent segment of SMBs who do truck driving and cargo transport on roads. One more low-skilled job disappearing without replacement.

RobinL 11y ago
Tech moves on and usually displaces labour but so far hasn't created mass unemployment. Instead it's made us richer. At any point in time people are concerned by the job destruction caused by progress, but after it has happened rarely want to rewind and go back to the old ways. I'm curious - if you think this is a bad thing, are there technological innovations which have already happened which you would want to undo? How many jobs do you think it would create? GPS could provide be a good thought experiment.
- clort 11y ago
  > Instead it's made us richer. some of us, anyway http://www.cbsnews.com/news/census-data-half-of-us-poor-or-low-income/ I wonder what it means when half of the richest country in the world lives in poverty..
  - RobinL 11y ago
    There are clearly serious problems with wealth and income distribution. However, the size of the pie and the distribution of it are different problems (although not independent). It doesn't follow that by prohibiting technological progress things would be more equal. I'm not sure what the relationship is between income distribution and progress; I think there are probably arguments both ways. For example, would income inequality be rising even if technological progress was not happening? Probably yes, from my reading of Pikkety. Those with capital would probably continue to accumulate more. But it would affect returns to capital so perhaps it's not so clear cut. Is income inequality increasing as a result of technological progress? Maybe, I guess? I'd be quite interested to see some real evidence either way because I don't think the answer is intuitive either way.

walshemj 11y ago

And I suspect that there will be gangs that help hack robot lorries to help refugees get onto trucks bound for the UK and other desirable countries.

unfamiliar 11y ago

It's the UK, we probably have enough CCTV cameras everywhere to trace a masked hijacker all they way back to their house. Add to that that the trucks will doubtless be recording everything that happens around them and be able to be remotely disabled, I doubt we will see any of them stolen. Plus, is any truck driver really going to go above and beyond to stop someone stealing TVs off the back of current trucks?