Is anybody else as freaked out as I am by the latest OnStar commercial where they simulate a stolen vehicle chase?
This bodiless female voice remotely stops a vehicle in an instant.
This is worrisome for a number of reasons.
First, there are all the scary sci-fi implications.
Has no one else been to the movies in the last couple of years? Did no one see “I, Robot” or “Eagle Eye?”
Both of these movies are based on the idea of a computer with artificial intelligence and equipped with software to mimic a woman’s voice, which decides that it must take matters into its own metaphorical hands in the name of keeping humanity, as a whole, safe.
Specifically, the whole premise behind “Eagle Eye” is this out-of-control computer that is able to control things like trains and cranes as long as they are networked as it tries to get rid of certain government leaders who it sees as a threat to national security. And what is OnStar but a type of network represented by a bodiless female voice that can now control cars linked to its network?
So what is to stop the people (or is it really more computers with artificial intelligence?) behind OnStar from remotely controlling everyone’s vehicles not just those that are supposedly stolen?
You may have thought movies like “Eagle Eye” are just science fiction, but the OnStar commercial proves that there may be more reality to that story than you’d like to think.
But even if you forget all the scary sci-fi stuff, the commercial claims that by being able to remotely stop the car, OnStar can help prevent deadly car chases. But there is no proof of that.
Small type at the beginning of the commercial admits that the scenes depicted in the commercial are only a simulation so we don’t know if what we’re seeing on the screen, where the vehicle just pulls safely onto the shoulder, is what would really happen in a real-life situation. Since we only see things from the perspective of a simulated police car camera, we don’t even know that the car is in fact being stopped by an OnStar remote and not just the pretend thief simply pulling the car over in the commercial.
Even if it was in fact the OnStar system cutting power in the commercial, then the driver in the “stolen” vehicle was probably perfectly aware of what was going to happen and knew what to do when the power was cut, a real car thief might not react the same way. Not knowing the power was cut, the thief might keep on going before suddenly stopping in the middle of the road, where it could be hit by other vehicles.
Or maybe through the commercial OnStar is implying that it can not only stop the car, but can take over control and drive it to the shoulder. But what if it were a busier traffic day, how is there a guarantee that a remote driver might not run the car into other traffic?
How can we expect to believe that the so called “anti-theft” system really works to prevent deadly car chases if all we are presented with is a simulation? Of course everything goes smoothly in the commercial, because it was directed that way.
I want to see a real life situation that proves that OnStar can really stop a vehicle remotely and safely. Not only would it confirm their claim about helping end deadly chases, but it would also confirm what we all know to be the real truth: we’re just one step closer to a mechanical take over where man will be ruled by machines.
Rowynn Ricks is the Assistant Editor for The News. She can be reached at reporter1@woodwardnews.net.
