Car with No Driver

Created by Meghan Montgomery March 2017

Applies To: Life Skills, Understanding and Participating in Society, Self-Awareness, Critical Thinking

Purpose: To gain a better sense of technology’s advancements in the automotive industry

Objectives:

• To learn about types of driving (driver vs. driverless)
• To discuss ethics surrounding both sides of this topic
• Discuss the testing out of any new car concept (example: mistakes, accidents)
• Discuss the reality of old car concepts (example: mistakes, accidents, speeding, etc.)
• Make a choice as to whether members with special needs might have interest in driving now—knowing that it wouldn’t entail so many

Materials needed:

• News-2-U story titled: Car With No Driver and relevant worksheets
• iPad for “Driverless Car” videos
• Pencils, pens
• Looking at a physical car (either program’s car or a staff’s car if willing) to discuss the way cars operate (example: Steering column, gas pedal, brakes, gears, etc.)
• Interactive White Board or computer projector

Activity Steps

1. Read through the News-2-U (Mayer Johnson) story titled: Car With No Driver to learn more about this concept. Ask each member to read a page. Then volunteer to read the page again for fluency and comprehension.

2. After reading the story, watch a few videos on this concept, encouraging affect and gesture rich questions and comments, such as: ex. “Would you give it a try?!”  

3.  Taking a ride in an Uber driverless car https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqFIkjOmOs4

4. How Does Google’s Driverless Car Work? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftouPdU1-Bo

5. Further discuss the options this might open up for people who are currently non-drivers, such as members of 3LPlace or people with vision challenges, etc.

6. Further discuss the difference between technology driving a car and a human driving a car (example: Emotion is present in humans, not technology, etc., weighing out the pros and cons of each.

7. Further discuss general anxiety in cars, accident history, etc.

8. Have members complete a variety of related worksheets—created by staff or through the News-2-U app (Mayer Johnson) to deepen awareness of the concept, relevant vocabulary terms (ex. Engineer vs. Driver), as well as closing the conversation by reminding members of how this could be viewed as part of a universal access solution.

9. Close the group by reminding members this will be an ongoing dialogue over time—as it’s a ways out currently.