Self-Driving Cars

For my Media Writing class, we had a group assignment of a “Convergence Lab” to choose a topic and write a multitude of different stories about that topic. My group chose technology, and from there, we wrote this story (featuring a print news story and a Storify) about self-driving cars.

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Is it Time to Think About Self-Driving Cars in Newport?

Newport locals have mixed beliefs on whether or not self-driving cars would be welcome in the seaside city.

In the past year, the transportation company Uber has begun testing self-driving cars to pick up passengers around Pittsburgh and Phoenix. Uber is now looking to expand testing operations and Rhode Island legislators need to decide whether to ban the technology or embrace it.

A poll conducted by Harris Interactive in 2014 showed that 80 percent of those polled believed that computer glitches would be the greatest drawback of self-driving cars, while only 7 percent of the sample believed there would be no drawbacks.

The greatest benefit in the survey was perceived to be a cure to dangerous driving accidents. The participants believed self-driving cars would limit drunk driving, as well as reducing speeding and traffic.

The Executive Director of the Audrain Automobile Museum on Belleview, David De Muzio, believes that self-driving technology in Newport may help during tourist season.

“Obviously they are working out all the ins and outs of all the technology to make it work on public streets, but I’ve read that they help congestion. We certainly have congestion on the island in the summer with tourism. I imagine initially it would be interesting, but it may not completely alleviate our problem. Over time I imagine it would be a great thing, though,” said De Muzio.

While De Muzio said he has no fears about the change self-driving cars would bring to his career, auto mechanic Paul S’Braccia fears technology is moving too far, too fast.

“Right now there’s not enough information and sources… there’s not a lot of history on it, so I think it’s something to do in the future. Right now, it’s hard to answer that question because we don’t know enough about it yet, it’s in testing stages,” said S’Braccia.

Local opinions pointed toward the biggest problem of self-driving technology: the unknown.

Salve Regina sophomore Angela Augusta admitted to not really knowing much about self-driving cars outside of doing some research for a class.

“I think that self-driving cars being tested in Newport would be cool, but I also think the concept of a self-driving car is actually kind of dangerous, especially in a college town. I feel like there would have to be precautionary measures made, and everyone on campus and in the city would have to know,” Augusta said.

Professionals and townies alike are unsure what to make of Newport’s possible future with self-driving technology and the state has yet to make a move for or against.

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I also made a Storify for the project, featured here.