Driverless cars are supposed to be a sign of a tranquil future, where
pleasant machines cart relaxed guests around, handling all the messiness
of automobile travel. They’ve also long been the interest of the
military, which through DARPA in 2003 challenged inventors to make a
machine that, by itself, could navigate a 300-mile stretch between Los
Angeles and Las Vegas.
The goal was a technological
solution to a messy problem from the insurgencies fought in Iraq and
Afghanistan: convoys carrying supplies were frequently attacked, with
lives often lost in the process. If resupply could be driverless, it
would save lives.
Now, it appears, ISIS has created a driverless car with the exact
opposite objective: remotely controlled, a driverless car bomb could be
just as deadly as a suicidal one, and without the high cost of a fighter
in the driver seat, too.
As reported by Sky News, ISIS has posted an instructional video on how
to turn a car into a remote-controlled weapon. It includes remote
steering, a machine to hit the pedals, and a foil-wrapped laser-eyed
mannequin in the front seat to fool infrared cameras.
Iraq observer Joel Wing wrote that in the week of December 22nd to the
28th, Iraq saw 13 car bombs, the fewest since June. Previous campaigns
have used about 50 car bombs a week.
