October is literally hours away - the official month of pumpkin spice and slasher films. Turn on the television at any point during the upcoming thirty-one days, and you will likely find a rich variety of entertainment that trends toward horror and gore. Now, I don't usually consider myself easily afraid. Well, the usual snakes and spiders will get to me, and bats, and wasps, and then there is the pink dish soap we used to use in home-ec class...it's a long story. But I have to admit, the idea of a self-driving autonomous semi tractor hauling a fully-loaded trailer down the interstate makes me more than a little twitchy. I mean, didn't Stephen King do a film about this back in 1986? Did the engineers at Volvo not pay attention? I mean, sure, it wasn't exactly a cinematic masterpiece - but somehow the leap from autonomous to homicidal doesn't seem that far to me.
Just about a year ago, an autonomous truck made the news for making the first self-driven beer delivery (that is strangely apropos). You can watch the story here, and then watch your back. That truck behind you on the interstate may just be a well-built collection of steel and gears, or it may be something else entirely. Boo.