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Politics

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Aug 16th 2012 1:31pm




Filed Under:
attack ad, autonomous vehicles, jeff brandes, politics


Hilarious Attack Ad In Florida Suggests That Legalizing Autonomous Vehicles Puts Old People At Risk

from the run-for-your-lives dept

It's political silly season, so you expect to see all kinds of ridiculous campaign ads, and in local elections they can get particularly bizarre. Most of them have little to do with technology and innovation and things that we focus on, but here's one that's been making the rounds that seems worth discussing here. A local campaign ad in Florida attacked candidate Jeff Brandes for... legalizing "driverless cars" in Florida. First, just watch it:
The voice over and the graphics are pretty funny, but hilariously wrong. The idea that driverless cars are going to run down little old ladies in the street seems pretty odd -- especially when you consider the driving ability of some of those little, old ladies themselves. I've spent plenty of time in Florida, and I'd feel a hell of a lot safer with autonomous vehicles on the road than some of those little, old ladies behind the wheel.

Then, the ad "quotes" Forbes supposedly saying that "Driverless Cars for All: More DANGEROUS Than Driving." Here's the screenshot:
Except... as Alex Knapp at Forbes points out, if you look at the actual article in question, it's got absolutely nothing to do with the physical safety of autonomous vehicles, but is more of a political discussion about the idea that, someday, in someone's imagination, we'll all be required to use autonomous vehicles, rather than be able to make bad distracted driving choices on our own. In other words, completely unrelated to what the ad appears to be suggesting.

But, more seriously, the ad then attacks the candidate by saying he should be focused on the economy and jobs. Um. You know one good way to do that? It's to help advance job-creating technology and innovations. You'd think that seniors in Florida would be excited, not worried about autonomous vehicles, in that they could help make them a lot more mobile.

Either way, the ad is silly, and pure misleading luddism targeted at Florida seniors. And, clearly, they didn't work, as the guy won his primary anyway. Oh, and it's worth noting that his opposing candidate -- the one that ad wanted the little old ladies to vote for? Yeah, he voted in favor of the same proposal to allow autonomous vehicles on the roads in Florida too. Ah, politics...

25 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
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    Vog (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:32pm

    I'm disappointed that this ad is seriously meant to be anything but amusing.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
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    Dark Helmet (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:37pm

    Honest Question:

    I noticed that after the video is concluded and the usual amalgamam of suggested next videos pops up, the one in the lower right hand corner is called "oracle advice" and shows a picture of the The Oracle from the sequels of The Matrix movies.

    Is this because the voiceover in the political ad is done by that woman? I can hear some similarities in the voice.

    More importantly, is this a subtle trick by The Machines to derail not only this candidate, but driverless cars as a whole, because of the mechano-fear that an AI simulating an AI would start a Matrix singularity that would unravel the entire--

    *POP*

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
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    Vog (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:40pm

    Re: Honest Question:

    Dang it, I listened to the video again and now I want a cookie.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
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    mickmel (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:44pm

    Remote controlled?

    I notice it called them "remote controlled" as well, which shows how they don't quite understand the technology they're fighting against...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Glen, Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:48pm

    Re: Remote controlled?

    I wouldn't expect a politician to understand what he is voting for or against. That would fry their circuits.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    icon
    :Lobo Santo (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:48pm

    Re: Remote controlled?

    ...and that would be: perfectly normal!

    Since when does any politician bother to truly understand what s/he's fighting for/against?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:50pm

    Re: Remote controlled?

    Maybe they've been watching too much Mythbusters and just assumed all cars worked that way.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    Ruben, Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:50pm

    Re: Remote controlled?

    ....as is almost always the case....

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 16th, 2012 @ 1:56pm

    This reminds me of that time we had to vote to approve a government supplement for Old Glory Robot Insurance so the elderly could afford to protect themselves from roving bands of androids bent on eating their pills at night.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
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    radarmonkey (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 2:23pm

    SNL prophecy!

    Oh my various gods!

    I wish work would let me search/post the Sam Waterston SNL commercial for "Robot Insurance"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
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    radarmonkey (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 2:30pm

    Re:

    I must remember to refresh before posting. Ya beat me, but its still hilarious!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
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    Vidiot (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 2:34pm

    Re: Re: Remote controlled?

    If they watched too much Mythbusters, they'd simply assume that all cars exploded.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    Digitari, Aug 16th, 2012 @ 2:46pm

    Re:

    will it run on android?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
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    Chronno S. Trigger (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 2:56pm

    Did anyone else notice that the car didn't stop a the stop sign? Ignoring the fact that the cars will be programmed to watch for pedestrians, a robotic car that doesn't stop for stop signs, will never make it onto the road in the first place.

    Another way these people just don't have a clue what technology they're fighting against.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 16th, 2012 @ 3:19pm

    My only worry is the programming. So long as they do extensive and good programing it should work just fine.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
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    Zimzat (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 3:24pm

    Re:

    I did notice that, but I also noticed some other oddities. For a car that was supposed to just run through the intersection, and potentially run the old lady over, it still seemed slow down at the stop sign and/or by the old lady, so the framing and cutting of the video makes me think, a little, that it did actually stop but they cut that out of the video!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  17.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 16th, 2012 @ 3:44pm

    Re:

    I'm going to be disappointed until they have autonomous voting

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  18.  
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    jupiterkansas (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 4:50pm

    When are we going to start calling them Robocars?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  19.  
    icon
    jupiterkansas (profile), Aug 16th, 2012 @ 4:54pm

    Re:

    The streets will eventually be far safer with these things on the road and I'm happy to see governments are already working to legalize them. Plus I can't wait to go to sleep in my car and wake up in another city. It's going to change everything we know about transportation - as long as the luddites let it happen.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  20.  
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    Ben (profile), Aug 17th, 2012 @ 12:47am

    History repeats itself

    I remember the political scaremongering around horseless carriages.

    "HORSES DONT DRIVE DRIVE!"

    "Horses: lowering your carbon hoofprint"

    "Cruise control: more dangerous than a demented horse!"

    "Horses: biodegradable"

    "1 Horse = 1 horse power. None of these funny metric units here"

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  21.  
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    Ben (profile), Aug 17th, 2012 @ 1:11am

    Re: History repeats itself

    "HORSES DONT DRINK DRIVE" that should be

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  22.  
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    Togashi (profile), Aug 17th, 2012 @ 1:07pm

    I think it's telling that the best quote they could find from him was "I had to convince the Senate it wasn't witchcraft". I'd be less worried about a governor who wants to legalize driverless cars than a senate that thought they were powered by witchcraft.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  23.  
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    Ninja (profile), Aug 20th, 2012 @ 6:40am

    Re: Re: Re: Remote controlled?

    I'd say most terrorists watch a lot of Mythbusters then...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  24.  
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    Ninja (profile), Aug 20th, 2012 @ 6:41am

    Re: Re:

    I can't wait to see viruses and hacks that work on these cars. Start your car and take a nap. And wake up 100 miles away of the point you wanted to go. Could be a brothel for added lulz.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  25.  
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    jupiterkansas (profile), Aug 20th, 2012 @ 8:40am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Just like the hacks in navigation software today that leads people to the wrong place?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  “
The streets will eventually be far safer with these things on the road and I'm happy to see governments are already working to legalize them. Plus I can't wait to go to sleep in my car and wake up in another city. It's going to change everything we know about transportation - as long as the luddites let it happen.
—jupiterkansas
 ”

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