Editor’s note: In addition to following tech developments, our author is a musical composer (Juilliard-trained). He has provided a musical composition for you to listen to while reading this column. This piece is called “Lotta Ways to Travel.”
This is my third column on “Transportation Tech.” The prior two talked about the effect of AI on vehicular and human-powered self-contained transportation. In this column, I will look at the impact on our larger transportation systems—planes, trains, ships and that anticipated integration between them and the delivery of medical care. AI has already had significant impact on those larger systems; they have already become quite smart and are getting more intelligent daily.
Thirty years ago, I flew single-engine Cessna 172s. No one had GPS, many small airports had no towers, and a lot of aviation followed VFR (visual flying rules). These small planes carried two to six passengers. Many airplanes had no instruments. When you left a small town, you could not be sure you would be able to return to the same airport to land because fog may have rolled in (I lived on the coast of California). You sometimes had to land where you could see and then figure out how to get the rest of the way home. Then, go back the next day to pick up the plane. These small aircraft could only fly at most a few hundred miles.
Today’s large aircraft can carry between 200 and 800 passengers and travel a few thousand miles. The tech that helps pilots today is so powerful that these large planes can virtually land themselves, even in the fog, with pilots in the cockpit to take over if necessary.
The new AI tech-enabled smart planes bring many benefits to our flying experience—enhanced safety, better decision-making, and improved real-time risk assessment. We also now have optimized flight paths, which reduce pilot workloads.
However, concerns have emerged regarding autonomous decision-making in critical situations. We have all heard the statistics that flying is safer than driving, but when there is a system failure, it is much more significant than a fender bender. There is potential for over-reliance on AI systems, diminishing pilot skills. Flying is now very complicated, which means that Cybersecurity vulnerabilities, with potential for hacking, have increased.
Our smart trains are also a mixed bag. Theoretically, we now have improved safety and collision avoidance, enhanced energy efficiency, reduced environmental impact, optimized scheduling, and increased punctuality. However, a few other things have come along for the ride, like high implementation costs, infrastructure challenges, cybersecurity risks, potential for system-wide disruptions, job displacement, and the need for workforce reskilling.
It is increasingly difficult for human beings to effectively handle the tradeoffs demanded by these very complex systems. We are increasingly reliant on artificial intelligence to run these systems. It is not yet clear if this situation is entirely beneficial for humanity, but we appear to be “on board” with it.
The vast majority of goods we consume are transported by ships. We now live in a global economy connected by increasingly smart ships. Some of the same tradeoffs mentioned above are at work in the shipping industry. Even though these ships do not transport many passengers, there are still consequences to consider, along with the benefits.
Enhanced navigation and collision avoidance in complex maritime environments are now possible, as are improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, optimized cargo management, and improved port operations. Once again, we also see cybersecurity vulnerabilities in connected maritime systems, regulatory challenges, international maritime law adaptations, and the potential for reduced crew sizes with associated safety concerns.
There is even talk of integrating medical and transportation services, advancing telemedicine and transportation simultaneously. These interdependent services may save lives but at the cost of decreasing our freedom and self-reliance.
These pluses and minuses impact the entire population of our planet. The questions they raise are not simple to answer. Yet, they are too consequential for the general public to be left out of the search for solutions. We, collectively, need to create mechanisms and decision-making processes to manage them. Members of the public have to become educated about these issues, so they can weigh in on their preferred solution sets. To date, unfortunately, progress on involving lay people has not kept pace with the application of technology.
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