Editing 1559: Driving
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | A {{w|self-driving car}} is a car that requires no human interaction to navigate streets to a destination. Thus, when [[Black Hat]] places a rock that weighs "as much as a small adult" into the car's seat, he begins the process of fooling the car into thinking it has an occupant when it does not. His purpose in doing so appears to be to send the car to {{w|Anchorage}}, {{w|Alaska}}, which is presumably quite far from where Black Hat and [[Cueball]] are standing, thus taking the car far away from its owner with relatively little effort on the part of Black Hat. This is | + | A {{w|self-driving car}} is a car that requires no human interaction to navigate streets to a destination. Thus, when [[Black Hat]] places a rock that weighs "as much as a small adult" into the car's seat, he begins the process of fooling the car into thinking it has an occupant when it does not. His purpose in doing so appears to be to send the car to {{w|Anchorage}}, {{w|Alaska}}, which is presumably quite far from where Black Hat and [[Cueball]] are standing, thus taking the car far away from its owner with relatively little effort on the part of Black Hat. This is the kind of evil prank Black Hat is infamous for. |
− | The title text references the fact that driving to Alaska from the | + | The title text references the fact that driving to Alaska from the {{w|contiguous 48 states|continental USA}} requires two border crossings, once into {{w|Canada}} from the mainland, and once from Canada into Alaska. The car apparently begins some distance from the Canadian border, since it will likely run out of gas before reaching Canada. Title text expresses regret about this probable failure; perhaps Randall was looking forward to the encounter between the border guards and the vehicle's "occupant." However, even if the car does not get to Anchorage, Black Hat will have created a serious problem for its owner who will have to report the car as stolen. |
− | Shortly after this comic appeared | + | Shortly after this comic appeared Tesla released footage of a robotic charger that can [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33794085 connect itself to a Tesla automatically]. If this kind of technology becomes common then a self-driving electric car might be able to make a transcontinental journey without human intervention. |
− | At the time of the release of this comic there were no places where self-driving cars were for sale to individuals. However, several corporate | + | At the time of the release of this comic there were no places where self-driving cars were for sale to individuals. However, several corporate owned test cars are frequently seen on public road (such as those operated by Google among others). {{w|Google_driverless_car|Nevada, Florida, California and Michigan}} were the first states to allow the testing of self-driving cars on public roads, and this legality is quickly spreading to many other states, as well as several countries in Europe. Alternatively, Randall might be setting this comic in an idyllic near future, wherein you could drive all over the country and in Canada with these cars! |
− | It could have been [[Beret Guy|Beret Guy's]] car - see [[1493: Meeting]]. Self-driving cars | + | It could have been [[Beret Guy|Beret Guy's]] car - see [[1493: Meeting]]. Self-driving cars is a [[:Category:Self-driving cars|recurring topic]] on xkcd. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
Line 45: | Line 45: | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Self-driving cars]] | [[Category:Self-driving cars]] | ||
− |