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A recently published patent from Ford could exist the first glimpse of the dystopian AI nightmare nosotros've all feared. The patent describes a self-driving police force car that can monitor for traffic violations, then hunt downwardly the perpetrators to deliver a ticket with the cold, unfeeling efficiency that can only be achieved with a machine.

The patent, which was originally filed in 2016, doesn't completely supercede the human officer. Ford envisions this system as working with or without a person behind the wheel. An officeholder could handle complicated police force work with the AI equally backup. Without a human partner, the self-driving auto could still do bones traffic enforcement.

The car would have the ability to monitor traffic and place vehicles breaking the law. It could and so initiate pursuit of the car in question, which indicates Ford is expecting to accept so-called Level 4 or better level of autonomy. That means the car tin can drive itself in varying conditions without a human in control. Level 5 autonomous driving would hateful no human command at all. Currently, Waymo is the most visible developer of level iv and v autonomy, but Ford and GM are both believed to be at a similar point in evolution.

This AI police vehicle would also support a law enforcement version of the "internet of things." Ford's patent shows how the car could plug into wireless sensors like red light cameras and speedometers to collect bear witness that a car has indeed broken the law. Here's where things start to get serious. If information technology's a minor violation that doesn't require chasing you downwardly, the AI police vehicle could just transport a citation wirelessly to your car as it drives past. Imagine that — a police car that just cruises downward the highway autonomously and leaves a trail of speeding tickets in its wake.

Applying automation to law enforcement brings up a number of troubling questions. Can a machine be taught to understand context? What if you demand to advance to avoid an accident? What if your car is as well autonomous and it makes a fault? Can the AI empathize these things, or will y'all go a ticket regardless?

This is, of course, just a patent. There's no guarantee Ford will really offer to build a fleet of AI-controlled law cars. Hypothetical patents similar this are filed all the time by large companies in guild to forestall others from staking a claim to the idea. Notwithstanding, the technology to do this might not be far off. We can only hope that Ford would program the AI enforcement vehicles to be friends of humanity and not the first wave of an eventual robot apocalypse.