汽车内日益增加的电子零件内容，无疑提升了车辆的安全性，而更多新兴科技只会助长此一趋势；根据一份由 IEEE 专家所提出的声明，事实上，几乎所有因驾驶人疏忽造成的交通事故(约占据所有车祸事件的九成以上)，都可藉由建置于车辆与道路的现有智能型运输技术(intelligent transportation technologies)而避免。
IEEE的新闻稿指出，那些所谓的智能型运输技术包括各种电子与运算方案，例如可侦测疲劳驾驶的车内机器视觉与传感器，车道偏离警报系统，以及车辆对车辆、车辆对基础设施的通讯设备等安全性应用。能避免九成以上的交通事故着实令人惊讶；而根据IEEE与产业界专家的说法，上述那些技术在获得广泛采用之后，价格也会降低，在接下来十年我们就可看到它们现身于车辆中。
但这样的未来还是让我有些忧虑…别误会，与车辆安全性无关；我的顾虑是在驾驶人身上，我担心驾驶人会变得越来越懒惰。如果你的车会帮忙叫醒你、换车道甚至停车，那干嘛不打个盹或是花力气打方向灯、找车位？反正车子自己都会处理好。
幸好有个事实打破我这种悲观想法：据了解，虽然汽车内有安全气囊与其它各种安全系统的加持，驾驶人并没有因此不系安全带，而且主动系好安全带的人越来越多；所以看来，额外的安全功能并没有让驾驶人掉以轻心。
但在另一方面，根据我在美国波士顿开车的经验，有部分汽车驾驶人因为太仰赖新科技，反而导致某种程度的危险。例如我总是能猜到我前方的汽车驾驶人正在用 GPS (无论是否有语音辅助)，因为他会猛然偏向跨越几个车道，好从某个交流道出口或是街口转出去，连打方向灯都没有；或者有些人是在某个十字路口干脆停住，思考该往哪走。
以上这些状况在波士顿原本就很常见，有了GPS装置之后更加严重；这里的人很不耐烦打方向灯，就连简单的变换车道也一样，他们可能只会先看看后照镜之类的。我很担心一旦车子有了传感器能侦测其它车辆，这些驾驶人们可能连后照镜都不看了，会让车子自己来就好。
还有正在发展中的车辆对车辆无线通讯技术，能协助侦测道路上的危险车辆，例如接近一个不易分辨之十字路口(blind intersection)的车辆，并提醒邻近的驾驶人。我怕人们会因此较忽略停止号志或红绿灯等信号，因为驾驶人A可能会假设驾驶人B知道他的存在，然后驾驶人B又自以为驾驶人A会知道保持安全距离。反正，车子会自己注意？
好吧…为了让你不认为我是个反科技者(我真的不是)，我还是赞同智能型运输技术的一大优点，那就是可减少能源消耗与二氧化碳排放量。IEEE的专家表示，在未来五年，藉由采用诸如“最省油路线规划(eco-routing)”等诉求环保的智能型运输系统(ITS)，将可降低全球20~30%的能源消耗与汽车排放量。
当科技能让汽车比开车的人更聪明，你的看法如何？未来的驾驶人是否会仍然遵守交通规则，还是把那些工作全权交给车子负责？欢迎分享你的意见！
编译：Judith Cheng
本文授权编译自EBN Online，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文：Cars That Are Smarter Than Their Drivers，by Barbara Jorgensen；本文作者为EBN 社群编辑
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Cars That Are Smarter Than Their Drivers
Barbara Jorgensen
Increased electronics content in cars has undisputedly made cars safer, and additional technologies will only augment that trend. In fact, nearly every traffic accident caused by driver error -- up to 90 percent of all crashes -- could be eliminated if existing intelligent transportation technologies were implemented in our vehicles and roads, say experts at IEEE in a press release.
These include electronics and computing technologies such as in-vehicle machine vision and sensors to detect drowsy drivers, lane departure warning systems, and vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications for safety applications, the release says.
That's an amazing number -- 90 percent. These technologies have to come down in price before they will be widely adopted, the IEEE and industry experts say, but we may see some of them in automobiles within the next 10 years. However, some of this has me worried.
Don't misunderstand: there is no downside to safer vehicles. My concern is and always will be drivers. I'm afraid drivers will get lazy. If your car can wake you up, change lanes, and even parallel park for you, why sleep, signal, or find a garage? The car will take care of it.
There is one fact that disputes this cynical conclusion: the addition of airbags and other safety systems in cars has not resulted in drivers failing to use seat belts. If anything, more drivers wear seat belts than ever. So the addition of safety features such as airbags hasn't made drivers any more complacent.
On the other hand -- and let me preface this by saying I drive in Boston -- some drivers are relying on technology to a degree that is dangerous. I can always tell when someone in front of me is using his GPS (voice-activated or not) because he suddenly swerves across lanes to take an exit or turn onto a street. No signal, nothing. Or someone abruptly stops in an intersection to decide what to do. That's typical of Boston already; GPS just makes it worse. Most folks around here don't bother to signal a simple lane change, either. They might check their rear-view mirrors or look over their shoulders first, but I'm worried that if cars have sensors that detect other vehicles, even that might not happen. Let the car do it.
Another technology in the works is wireless networking technology for vehicle-to-vehicle communication that will help detect dangerous vehicles on the road, such as a car approaching a blind intersection, and warn nearby drivers. I'm afraid people will pay less attention than they do already to stop signs and other traffic signals. Driver A will just assume Driver B knows A is coming. Driver B assumes Driver A's car knows enough to stop. Either way, let the car deal with it.
Lest you think I'm anti-technology (and I'm not), here's a big upside: Intelligent transportation technologies can reduced fuel consumption and emissions. The IEEE says that fuel use and vehicle emissions can be reduced by 20 percent to 30 percent worldwide over the next five years using environmentally-friendly ITS technology such as "eco-routing." This vehicle GPS system capability will allow drivers to select destination routes according to fuel efficiency.
So technology is enabling cars that are smarter than the people driving them. What do you think? Will drivers still obey the rules of the road or let their car figures things out? Let me know on the message board below.
