#dnaEdit: Has driving become a redundant skill?

The launch of Uber’s driverless cab service, a few weeks after a similar experiment was initiated in Singapore, brings to the fore the massive scientific and technological changes that are in store for human civilisation in the coming decade. A world where increasingly sophisticated machines take over all the manual labour and reduce humans to sedate participants and observers is on the verge of becoming reality. But the loss of jobs and the fate of the Earth’s large pool of unskilled, semiskilled and skilled workforce when work processes are automated and machines take over basic commercial and domestic activities is a discomfiting question that must be addressed soon. So far, scientists, corporations and governments are content to allow the technologies to mature, and this does make sense. There is a natural progression that the trajectory of science and technology has taken since the Industrial Revolution. Despite fears of loss of jobs due to the rise of machines, these have in the past improved human productivity and created higher grade jobs.

But we are also fast reaching a stage where the onward adoption of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence could cut deep into both the specialised, high-earning and the lower-end, lesser-paying jobs. The pace of this technological change may also turn out to be quicker than at any time in human history and the challenges before the workforce to adapt and re-skill is not getting the required attention. India’s information technology industry is automating recursive tasks in testing, maintenance and production support. Fresh hiring by the IT industry has been falling for the past three years and this is reflecting in the falling admissions in engineering colleges. In the heavy industries segment, human labour is being replaced by robots, even as India has launched an ambitious skilling programme through ITIs to feed the blue collar workforce needs of factories.

Uber’s adoption of the driverless car technology is without doubt driven by its revenue model and the desire to maximise revenues, the drivers who currently earn the company its revenues be damned. Of course, Uber has helped connect drivers to potential passengers through its mobile app and pays out a big chunk of its revenues to drivers who own the cars and ferry the passengers. But once Uber has perfected its driverless technology, it will have no need for these drivers or their cars. Uber will own the cars and will keep all the revenues from its cab business. For the thousands of low and middle income earners who left other occupations to sign up with their cars as Uber drivers, the ride may not last beyond a decade if the pilot project is successful.

Uber’s driverless cars are reportedly equipped with seven laser sensors (called lidars), radar that can see in 360 degrees, and 20 optical cameras to develop realtime 3-d images and collect as many as 1.4 million data points every second. These are uploaded to cloud servers and integrated with a centralised map of the street network. Ultimately, these images will help Uber to develop a comprehensive map of road conditions and refine the computing process to allow for smooth lane-changing, braking and speeding. Google and Tesla are also working on their own versions of the driverless car. However, Tesla’s auto-pilot cars have faced instances of malfunctioning. Whether we like it or not, the Internet of Things, that will allow devices, software and sensors to communicate over networks without human interface, is steadily taking shape. Currently, big corporations are making these lifestyle and technology choices for consumers. These technologies promise to deliver progress and comforts, but are also replete with network and data security risks. The demands for democratising decision-making and regulating this sector is bound to gather pace soon.