A danger or just behind-the-wheel fun?

Many might see the recent statement by Barrie Kirk, co-founder of Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre Of Excellence, that the emergence of autonomous cars will lead to “a lot more sex in cars” as being a classic case of no-duh.

Afterall, people have been having sex in cars ever since, or pretty close to, the first automobile rolled off the assembly line. Portable relatively private, cars are almost the ideal intimacy space for those unable to find or afford a regular room.

Teenagers, in particular, have used cars for all kinds of get-togethers, frequenting remote spots to park and look out at the view (to put it politely). It’s no wonder that the automobile and eroticism have formed a very intimate bond, with hard-driving masculine designs on one side, to the apocalyptic fetishism of J.G. Ballards infamous novel Crash on the other.

With the high RPM development and highspeed implementation of autonomous vehicles, we may very well be seeing self-driving cars on many country’s highways in less than a year. The gig-economy powerhouse Lyft, partnering with General Motors, claims to be ready to test the removing of human drivers from behind the wheel within a year.

Cruising in cars

At first the statement by Kirk might seem—again—a no-duh observation, and the concern prudish., But what may not be so clear is the risk auto-erotic play raises.

It’s easy to look at self-driving cars as being more advanced than they are. True, the innovations are remarkable and the pace of development is just shy of staggering, but a true autonomous vehicle is a long way off. In short, they might be able to drive you down the highway, but you’re still going to need to be paying attention to the road.

This is where the perils of fooling around in your new self-driving car come in. “[Sex is] one of several things people will do which will inhibit their ability to respond quickly when the computer says to the human, ‘Take over,’” Kirk said.

Canadian government officials studying the issues around self-driving cars recently submitted briefing notes to Marc Garneau, the Transport Minister. “Drivers tend to overestimate the performance of automation and will naturally turn their focus away from the road when they turn on their auto-pilot, they said.

So while many have giggled at Kirk’s statement concerning the risks of sex while in a self-driving car, the laughter actually masks a serious and legitimate issue: that autonomous vehicles, at least at present and more than likely for at least a decade, need a focused and aware human being at the wheel.

And while fun, in a car or not, sex of any sort is something that many would call wonderfully distracting— which is is why, until self-driving cars are exactly that, we should have our auto-erotic play while safely parked somewhere out of the way.

Or, better yet, just wait until you get indoors.

Image source: smoothgroover22