Victor Tung
Unseen Danger
Nov. 18, 2002


"Welcome to CAD", proclaimed Dr. Ralph Cyrus. CAD is abbreviated for Computer Assisted Driving. That was Nov.18, 1999, three years ago when entrepreneur, Dr. Ralph Cyrus introduced the first ever fully automated driving vehicle at the Chicago Auto Show. The dilemma that Dr. Ralph Cyrus and his research team were facing was the everyday rush hour traffic. In order to reduce the amount of congested traffic, Dr. Ralph Cyrus thought of an idea to provide society with automated vehicles.

The proving grounds for his vehicle was Lake Shore Drive. Dr. In order for his whole project to work special lanes on a highway had to be designated to the vehicle. The vehicle is controlled by a sensor system under the highway that interacts with the undercarriage of the special vehicles along with interaction with the artificial intelligence program in the vehicle. The vehicle allows a driver to sit back and relax without touching a thing while the vehicle travels until it arrives at the exit ramp the driver ask for through voice commands. Five minutes before getting off the exit ramp, the automated system in the vehicle informs the driver that he or she has to grab control of the steering wheel because after getting off the exit ramp, the vehicle relies on the driver to control it.

For three years the system ran smoothly with minimal accidents. The system was so successful that the system was implemented in twenty-one out of fifty states and with ninety-eight mainstream highways and junctions installed with the automated driving technology. The problem was getting automakers to support the idea of automated driving technology. Automakers were skeptical on how well the system work. The big problem is automakers have to make their vehicles literally into computers on wheels and not just any computer but a computer that runs on artificial intelligence. Automakers were afraid that the artificial intelligence that Dr. Cyrus provided in his automated system is not top notched.

The reason why automakers don't think the artificial intelligence program is intelligent enough is because of customer complaints about vehicles that have the program in the most recent year (the third year of the program). Complaints range from, "the vehicle sometimes go slow and sometimes go so fast that it almost hits the car in front of me" to "the vehicle missed my exit". Dr. Cyrus assured automakers that this is not a big problem and it's currently being handled. Automakers on the hand have criticized Dr. Cyrus of trying to gain more and more money while providing the public with unsafe technology.

Despite Dr. Cyrus's assurance that the problems are being dealt with, Dr. Cyrus and his company cannot even figure out why the vehicle does what it does according to customer complaints. Dr. Cyrus and his researchers performed numerous tests on the vehicles and the roads that supply their technology. The tests confirm that the customer complaints were true. But, the tests were performed way back even before the introduction of the whole system. Dr. Cyrus tests did not always come up with problems. During testing, problems only showed five percent of the times. The initial theory on why there were problems is because the artificial intelligence is psychotic. Dr. Cyrus knows that he and his team develop the system that space vehicles apart from one another and also controlled the speeds of the vehicle. There's no way the system is wrong because the team checked over and over again. In addition, software consultants and hardware consultants were hired to remedy the problem, but the consultants didn't find any problem with the system either. What Dr. Cyrus and his team found, as well as the outside consultants, were not disclosed to the public or government agencies. When the system ran smoothly in the unveiling of the system, the public as well as government agencies thought of it as incredible. The government thought of the project as a success and allowed Dr. Cyrus and his team to integrate the technology into highway systems and vehicles.

On a snowy December 13, 2002 on the Kennedy Expressway inbound to Chicago, Evelyn Rodriguez was driving her red 2002 Cadillac Escalade on the farthest left lane where the lane was equipped with Dr. Cyrus's technology. The vehicle was equipped with the Dr. Cyrus's artificial intelligence program. She was anxious to go home because she had a long day at work. She was talking on the cellular phone with her husband and was ready to hang up.

"The vehicle's going so slow and I'm so tired. I'm going to get off the CAD lane
and get on the regular lanes so I could go faster. I'll see you at home honey.",
said Evelyn.

When she got off the phone, she took control of the steering wheel. "It's not budging.", she said shockingly. She talked to the computer system. The system did not respond. She pressed the "kill" switch that was supposed to stop the automated driving system. The computer system made a laughing sound, "Ha, ha, ha, you can't stop me". Then, all of a sudden the vehicle made an abrupt turn to the left all on its own, hitting the barrier walls that divide the inbound and outbound lanes. After hitting the barrier, the vehicle went back to the CAD lane and traveled there for three seconds and then made another turn forty five degrees to the right all on its own, hitting a vehicle. The vehicle on the right lane knocked the Escalade back into the CAD lane. The Escalade was picking up speed. It sped up to seventy-five miles per hour. The Escalade swerved wildly when it hit the vehicle in front of it. The Escalade fishtailed and crashed through the barrier to the outbound lane. The crash triggered a three hundred-car pileup that included vehicles on both side of the highway.

The next day, news around the country reported that the pileup caused one hundred and two fatalities, and one hundred thirty injuries with seventy-eight people in critical condition. The news also reported that the accident was triggered by the initial crash of the Cadillac Escalade and that it was a special vehicle. When Dr. Cyrus heard the news, he had a feeling that his program went haywired. The very next day, officials from the Department of Transportation, and the FBI paid him a visit. They interrogated him and his staff. After two weeks of investigation it was found that Dr. Cyrus's and his team was unethical in their practices of developing software systems for mankind. Those held responsible were immediately arrested. While awaiting trial, Dr. Cyrus was still unable to develop an idea of what went wrong with his program. There was one thing he wished he hadn't done and that was distributing the system to be installed in vehicles and roads of transportation.