| Auto Drive |
September 16, 2016
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| In this society, almost all cars had an auto-drive system. The government recommended auto-drive cars because auto-drive cars rarely caused traffic accidents, so the government could reduce its medical budget. Car insurance of manual-drive cars cost 10 times more than auto-drive cars. So very few people bought manual drive cars. He was one of those who chose to drive a manual-drive car. He liked driving a car. He deliberately lived far from his working place. Every day he enjoyed the one hour drive going to and from work. But, those who drove manual-drive cars felt it more difficult day by day to drive because the police especially targeted them. Auto-drive cars strictly followed traffic rules because the computer was set to obey traffic laws. All violators of the traffic rules were human beings. So fines for traffic violations were also very high. At first, auto-drive cars had a steering wheel in case of an emergency. But because emergencies didn't occur so  often, the steering wheels were completely taken at. And, besides, if an emergency did happen, if the computer couldn't act suitably, how could human beings react? The people trusted their auto-drive system. Once people didn't drive for a couple of years, they soon forgot how to drive. Auto-driving cars chose more eco-friendly courses: shorter course, less traffic jams, less traffic lights, etc. But, he rather liked to drive at random. When he wanted to accelerate, he did. When he wanted to slow down, he did. When he wanted to stop, he did. If he wanted to stop in front of a vending machine, he just stopped. He didn't need to shout, "Stop at the red vending machine 10 meters ahead on the left." And, in that case, he didn't want to hear the car's reaction, "Sorry, but this car can't stop unless you order 30 meters before, at least." He thought an auto-drive car was a poor person's limousine. Rich people didn't use auto-drive cars because they used a limousine with a driver. One time he had a girlfriend but they soon broke-up because she refused to ride in his car saying that it was too dangerous, and her life was more important than his hobby. One time, TV program broadcasted that a person hit a young woman while driving manually, and she eventually died. They called him a 'killer' even though the young woman crossed the busy traffic in complete carelessness. As auto-drive cars could dodge reckless pedestrians, pedestrians became more reckless. On this day, he was driving in the downtown area. He was the only person who was holding a steering wheel. Others were reading a magazine, eating something, checking their smartphone, watching DVD, etc. When he looked over to the opposite lane, he noticed there was a cat straying in the middle of the lane. The cat looked old and at a loss about what to do because there were many cars. Cars came toward the cat but they neither stopped nor changed their courses. The traffic was busy so maybe the computers of their cars judged either stopping or changing course might cause a car accident. It was clear that the cat would be hit soon. Suddenly, a strong anger occurred in him. He swerved into the opposite lane and stopped in front of the cat. It was a strange sight. In the opposite lanes, as the passengers of the cars didn't look toward the front, no one realized that they were approaching his stopped car. Just before coming to his car, their cars would elaborately change lanes to either the right side or left side, and passed through as if nothing happened. It was also strange that he didn't hear any horns. He realized that auto-drive cars didn't use horns. After a certain period, no more cars came in the center lane. He guessed that the other cars were already sent the information about this incident from their GPS systems and had changed their courses. "What car technology!" He sighed and got out of his car. There were no cars in front of his car or behind his car. In the opposite lanes, there were a lot of cars passing by him. There were some passengers who saw him, and kept looking at him to see what he was doing without caring about their own cars' direction. This was his other discovery. He went to the back of his car and looked at the cat. The cat looked up at him as if nothing happened. He held the cat up. For him, the cat looked somehow thoughtful. He said, "You are lucky that I was driving this animal friendly car." The cat meowed. It sounded as if the cat laughed. |
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*dodge :ζ―ι
*reckless :ό€©ΈΘ
*stray :ΐΑ½