Overlapping

Overlapping driving always makes Jack nervous. It reminds him of the old days of self-driving next to a transport truck in the snow. Those were nerve-racking times. Right now the Driverless has somehow decided that it is acceptable to overlap with the vehicle next to him - another single occupancy vehicle. The guy sitting in that car, however, seems completely unconcerned. He is probably online working or playing. As if there is much of a difference these days, since virtually everyone works in the entertainment industry.

The anti-collision technology was an offshoot from research on invisibility that was abandoned years ago. Rather than simply bending the narrow spectrum of visible radiation around objects, certain metallic alloys were developed that could be magnetized to specific frequencies. The imprinted material could be so tightly contained within the flux lines of their specific imprinted frequencies, that the density of objects could be reduced by orders of magnitude without loss of strength. In the current state of the technology, what was essentially a cloud of metal alloy particles could be maintained in virtually any physical shape by a relatively low-power transmission.  An unexpected side effect of this technology was that cloud structures could pass through each other without interference.

At least, that was how it normally worked. In real life, however, there are always variation and unexpected conditions. Overlapping driving worked very well when conditions were clear and dry, but with snow and ice, it was a different story. Anyone from up north would have foreseen this problem, but wrote the program for this section of highway didn’t seem to have that foresight.

“Are you serious?!” Jack exclaimed. “Who programmed this system?”

Within seconds, the normal variations in the traffic flow speed caused the other vehicle to slow relative to Jack’s. Due to ice build-up, the cars snagged, turned perpendicular to the flow of traffic and slide to a stop. Traffic in the single occupancy vehicle lanes stopped.  Neither Jack nor anyone else was hurt, of course.

“I can’t believe this!” Jack growled angrily. “Whomever is responsible for this will soon find themselves in court!” He knew, of course, that this was impossible since no one had effectively sued the AI for decades. Even the best minds were no match for the legal skills and knowledge of the AI.

As he spoke, a news drone helicopter appeared, followed by two police drones.

“Great,” he thought to himself. “Everyone from here to Texas will see me making idle threats against the AI while sitting here in the first traffic accident in 120 days.”