Baby boomers going boom on the road

Unfortunately, as we humans age, our motor function slowly deteriorates. Most countries' drivers' license programs aren't designed to account for a loss of capability: you usually pass a drivers' test once, and then you have that license for life. Countries like the UK require drivers to renew their license every 3 years after the age of 70. However, without a driving test, a citizen's true driving ability can't really be determined. Could these systems be too simplistic for a country like Japan, whose population will soon be one-third seniors?

Japanese car companies are working on new technologies that automatically brake or accelerate when elderly drivers accidentally press the wrong pedal. Abe Shinzo also plans on subsidizing drivers who buy cars with these new technologies. This will hopefully increase the number of safe elderly drivers on the road without outright banning anyone.

In my opinion, this is a good middle ground that doesn't stomp out the elderly's sense of independence and privacy. When seniors age, the last thing they want is a reminder that they are gradually becoming more dependent on caretakers. If a country were to outright revoke an elder's license until retaking a test, elders might feel their rights had been revoked and their dignity tarnished. Upset elders would be much less willing to comply with safety regulations.

New AI technology doesn't come without its own problems, though. If an elder person were to accidentally crash into a pedestrian, people would be upset, but could also understand that all humans make mistakes. However, the case of an autonomous Uber vehicle hitting and killing a homeless woman in 2018 (my 21st birthday) caused much more unrest. Who is liable in this case, Uber as a company? Or the programmer who developed the code? Modern machine-learning algorithms are often self-taught, so even the programmer doesn't understand how it works. In that case, is the training data responsible? How do we punish the responsible parties? Everyone might have a different opinion.

Furthermore, this death feels much more preventable: we as a society chose to develop new technology, and it lead to this woman dying. We may have statistically saved lives on average (AI drivers are safer than elderly drivers), but from this woman family's perspective, that doesn't matter. Uber's algorithm killed her. It's a modern example of the trolley problem.

That being said, if these car companies' auto-accelerate and auto-brake features do prove effective, I personally am in favor of their use. Very few people feel as if their independence has been revoked when AI prevents them from rear-ending the car in front, so I don't think any Japanese elders would complain. I do wonder if, in a few decades, AI-assisted cars become so ubiquitous it will become illegal to drive a non-AI-car, like how seatbelts are seen today. Perhaps this legislation to allow elders to use AI-assisted cars is a sort of "gateway drug" into AI-assisted cars becoming the standard. Only time will tell what actually will happen.

*EDIT: I also realize that baby boomers are technically under 75 years old (born after 1945), which means the Silent Generation (75-95 years old) might be more fitting for the title. Oh well.

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The article also ended with a discussion of 5G. I hope Japan implements a few 5G towers before I leave, because I've heard YouTubers say they got over 1,500 Mbps with it. Gimme dat speed