Video: Obama on How We'll Embrace Self-Driving Cars
Google's new self-driving prototype car is introduced at the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif. Tony Avelar/AP File Photo
The president discusses the role the government should play as autonomous vehicles hit the road.
Self-driving vehicles may soon be on the cusp of widespread adoption. But what does President Barack Obama think of the potentially revolutionary technology? The president, filling the role of guest editor for Wired magazine, recently spoke on the future of artificial intelligence and the overall relationship between government and technology.
Obama said the technology has the power to drastically reduce traffic fatalities, improve transportation efficiency and lessen the environmental impact of cars but noted that safety was a continuing concern.
But what is the role of government as the rubber meets the road?
"Well, my instinct is initially the role is a convener. The way I've been thinking about the regulatory structure as AI emerges is that early in a technology, a thousand flowers should bloom and the government should have a relatively light touch—investing heavily in research, making sure that there's a conversation between basic research and applied research and companies that are trying to figure out how to apply it," Obama said, citing weather prediction technology as an example that went through this process effectively.
To learn more, check out the video below from Wired: