We live in a world where AI technology has seemingly taken over most parts of our activities, the transport system isn't excluded,the world's tech geniuses have been pouring a lot of investment into developing self-driving cars, with the hope of less stressful automatic mobility, we know how some of these rich men can go to any length to have luxury and comfort, and in present times, we've seen companies like Tesla bringing to reality this innovation that once was thought to only exist in sci-fi movies, how amazing and these self-driving cars are said to be programmed to be very safe to navigate around the city, so no fear of accidents, but I can't seem to get this hilarious thought out of my mind, imagining a self-driving car on the street of Lagos, Nigeria, My city of residence.
Self-Driving Cars in Nigeria? Prepare for Chaos!
Because let's be real, these self-driving cars have to be trained on the well-maintained roads and predictable driving environments of the developed nations which is directly opposite of what we have here in my country, let me not even get started on the potholes, I begin to wonder how would they possibly cope on the crazy streets of Lagos, Abuja or Kano if the technologies were deployed here in Nigeria?
Let's get started with traffic rules and regulations, these self-driving cars would have been programmed to properly obey road traffic rules and signals, right? But do we have a working road system based on that, only a few of our roads are lucky to be remembered by the government to have traffic lights, our drivers are themselves, traffic regulators, I'm sure these robotic cars would end up in confusion if deployed here because most of our drivers themselves hardly follow these rules and signals, and would always have a crash with the robotic cars only this time, I'm guessing the exteriors of these cars to be very solid, if so, that would be their saving grace for these reckless drivers to avoid them so their vehicles don't end up for repairs all the time haha, it's not about the rules, but the fear of expenses especially in this very hard economy we currently face.
Google map is another innovation that has helped our transport system, we can now drive to a location for the first time while following Google Map instructions, but we still have a long way to go in terms of mapped roads, which is one of the fundamentals self-driving cars needs to function, according to what I read, they use 3D maps of the area they operate in, identifying the roadways, lane markings, signals and other critical infrastructure, which helps the robot cars understand the environment and precise location they are heading to, even though their sensors matches real-world observations, there is no way they will function well in Nigeria, my precise location for instance can only be located and by rugged Nigerian drivers lol, because there is no markings, signals, nothing at all, just a bare land where newly constructed houses are being developed, me and my siblings had to name it desert because that's just the perfect description. lol
I know some of us will argue that we still have some locations in Nigeria where the roads are well paved and precisely mapped, no doubt about that, so do you think these self-driving cars will function well there, I think that would be only possible if our exact mapping is what is used in programming these cars and not the western mapping system that their companies use to train the self-driving AI models except that don't they have hope in Nigeria. And let's not forget even then, our roads are still being developed in Lagos for instance, which means the map would quickly be rendered useless as it comes.
Reckless Drivers and Traffic Jams from Hell
You read that right, it can only happen in Lagos, staying in traffic for more than four hours for a journey that was supposed to last for less than 30 minutes, so would robot cars have patience like Glorydee hehe, the human driver's behaviors would be even more complicated for it to drive same road with them, normally after driving rubbish and causing an accident with a roadblock that often follows, you would hear them cussing out loud at each other, would the robot cars be programmed with cuss words to reply the reckless Danfo drivers🤣🤣🤣🤣. These autonomous vehicles have been trained on the relatively orderly roadways of America, where drivers tend to follow traffic laws, obey lane markings, and yield to pedestrians and other vehicles according to a standardized system.
On Nigerian roads, it's essentially a free-for-all where following any road rules or driving norms is on his own rules, Danfo drivers would often follow their own rules like driving one way to beat through traffic, some even ride up on sidewalks, and constantly make split-second decisions that a risk-averse self-driving system would deem too unsafe to execute.
The list still goes on, pedestrians and street hawkers casually wander into the paths of moving vehicles as if they have nine lives, forcing drivers to slam on brakes or swerve aggressively. The hawkers with their goods eager to sell to those in transit or the lazy citizen that prefers to cross the major road than use the overhead bridge, if a self-driving car tried to obey that pedestrian right-of-way, it would constantly be halting and likely cause a multi-car pileup within minutes given how dense traffic flows.
Those Traffic Cops Though...🤣🤣
one of the most absurd sights to picture is a self-driving car trying to interpret and respond to a Nigerian traffic police officer. Starting with the one that gives confused traffic signals with his hands, while doing choreography, these good-humored but totally unpredictable law enforcement agents also take the law into their own hands, by always demanding bribes from drivers, I imagine them summoning robotic cars over for an on-the-spot bribery, how would the autonomous system be able to comprehend and follow their orders.
I saved the perilous potholes as the last on my list, even if they managed to develop sophisticated systems tailored to the unique confusion of Nigerian roads, these multi-million dollar self-driving cars wouldn't stand a chance against the country's potholes from hell. Haha
In Conclusion,Not Happening Anytime Soon
While self-driving cars may become a reality in developed nations it's hard to picture the technologies seamlessly navigating Nigerian roads not anytime now or in the near future, maybe far future hopefully.
Deploying self-driving cars into these types of settings we have here in my country is just like putting a novice driver on the road, no offense intended to the amazing scientist behind this innovation, my country is not just ready for this form of advancement yet, for now, they can only serve as a show business for those who can afford it. Maybe in that far future, engineers will have invented a way or program that allows autonomous vehicles to reliably operate in my country, but for now, we will still keep managing human-driven cars, okada bikes, tricycles, and our good old-fashioned walking, until that future comes for us.
You found this topic interesting right? It was inspired by the #AprilInleo monthly topics, for day 2, hurry now and check the announcement post to get more info and aldo take part on the fun writing moment.
All images are created by me using Bing Image Creator.