EST 110 Session 4 (David Sohre) by David Sohre

Personalized Overview

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 15:34:22 UTC

In our world today, getting from point A to point B is a very important aspect of our lives. Whether that be going to work, taking a trip to the city or seeing family out of state. Some of these things could involve walking or a bicycle but more likely than not we would drive to these places or take public transportation. Little do we know, AI is a big part of this action we make almost everyday. Whether that be using AI for your GPS to get you to place to place, our driving a new self-driving car that helps avoid pedestrians, take the most optimized routes to save gas and time all with the use of AI. In this Padlet I will be overviewing the beneficial and negative impacts of AI in the transportation field. I chose this topic because I drive almost everyday or get things delivered to me through Amazon or Door dash which makes them drive. With AI, I can get these things I ordered faster and safer to their destination and I can freely drive without the feeling of hitting something or being later than intended. I believe the use of AI is very important in the forever adapting world we live in, especially in the various transportation industries which I use, some way or another, daily.

Transportation - Waymo

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 15:34:45 UTC

Waymo, all the way back in 2010, began the self-driving cars. These were one of the first road-legal models which led to other companies such as Tesla to recreate these ideas. Waymo uses machine learning and computer vision to have a car analyze the road, traffic and other objects and have the vehicle drive safely through all this. This has many benefits including eliminating the potential human error in driving which would lead to a decrease in accidents. It could also help with saving time with finding the most optimal route of transportation so the user could get to its destination with ease. I believe this is very helpful in our world today. With more and more accidents happening with distracted drivers this essentially stops all of that. The only downside would be the cost factor for some people. Most of these cars are very expensive leading it to be a pricy purchase, but the amount of people this could protect definitely outweighs the negatives of these products.

Future Trends and Ethical Considerations

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 15:35:02 UTC

The future of AI in transportation is very important and expanding rapidly. Almost everyone has GPS, everywhere you drive your bound to see an electric car or Tesla and most delivery companies use routes created by AI. All of these things are very important and only happened within the past 10 maybe 15 years. This shows the very quick expansion of AI. I believe that AI in transportation for the future is very important. I think its going to be implemented in almost every new car, every form of public transportation and very more. With AI producing smart traffic management, enhanced safety features, and environmentally favorable side affects, it's hard not to see AI being very important and profitable in the future. With AI improving every year I believe that it is going to have way more involvement in transportation than it does today. With all these benefits their are also a bunch of ethical concerns. One being accountability. Let's say a self-driving car gets in an accident, is the person driving the car responsible, or maybe the driver of the self-driving car or maybe its even the cars fault. It's hard to settle that dispute if this problem ever occurs. Another would be job displacements. If AI makes routes easier to follow that means their would be less trucks needed to do the daily deliveries which means less people having to run those trucks leading to lesser jobs. Another way this happens is with drones, specifically Amazon's Prime Air. This would definitely take away some delivery truck driver's jobs. Of course these are not good circumstances to be in, but AI still is evolving and getting better everyday. Hopefully in the future AI could adapt and fix any issues or ethical circumstances that is in its way and help people for the better.

Societal Impact

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 15:35:44 UTC

Artificial intelligence is transforming transportation, reshaping societal dynamics, and introducing both opportunities and challenges. AI-driven systems, such as self-driving vehicles, smart traffic management, and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), promise to enhance efficiency, safety, and convenience. However, these advancements also raise critical societal concerns one of them being employment. Automation in freight, logistics, and public transportation could displace millions of drivers, requiring workforce retraining and new economic policies to support affected workers. At the same time, AI creates opportunities in software development, data analysis, and system maintenance, though these jobs often demand specialized skills. Privacy concerns arise as AI systems collect and analyze vast amounts of user data. Location tracking, driving patterns, and personal preferences are all things that AI has access to at all times. At anytime, someone could breach this and have all this information and figure out where you have been and maybe your exact location. Equity in access to AI-powered transportation is another challenge. Without deliberate policy interventions, these technologies could exacerbate disparities, favoring urban and affluent areas while neglecting rural or underserved communities. This does change my view on the use of AI in transportation because it does get rid of a lot of people's source of income plus the fact that someone could compromise AI and have my personal information. The thing is AI is still adapting and I believe it could provide solutions to these problems or better alternatives. For now, I think AI should be limited to only its best and least harmful attributes until something new arises.

Reflection

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 15:36:35 UTC

During this project I knew I have used AI in traveling or in delivery systems but I did not know how much of an impact it had on so many things. With self-driving cars or even road assistance, it has helped save countless lives and helps keep some money in our products all while making the environment a slightly better place. With me ordering a bunch of things online, I also didn't even think about the use of drones or how the people driving the trucks always know where to go. These are only a few examples of how AI impacts transportation. Pretty much every time you travel, whether that be by train, airplane, car, uber literally anything, AI has an impact on that. This might be in a very large manner or just a small one like showing directions. This project opened my eyes to the possibilities of AI and how beneficial it could be in some instances that helps the better of everyone.

Citations

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 15:36:50 UTC

Filipsson, F. (2024, July 25). Top 15 Real-Life Use Cases For AI In Transportation Industry. Redress Compliance. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://redresscompliance.com/top-15-real-life-use-cases-for-ai-in-transportation-industry/ [Rationale: Has very important ways on how AI impacts transportation and shows many real-life examples and their benefits]

Glifford, J. L. (2023, June). How AI is Reshaping Transportation. The Ripon Forum. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://riponsociety.org/article/how-ai-is-reshaping-transportation/[Rationale: Shows the overall use of AI in transportation and provides broad terms that help show a whole perspective on the use of AI]

Jansons, K. (2024, January 15). How AI in transportation can improve our everyday lives? MindTitan. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://mindtitan.com/resources/blog/ai-in-transportation/

[Rationale: Highlights more of the self-driving aspect of AI with examples of Ai detecting pedestrians, stoplights, other cars and finding optimal routes]

Prime Air. (n.d.). Amazon.jobs. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/teams/e-commerce-foundation/prime-air[Rational: Amazon's direct product line and website displaying the Prime Air aspect of their company]

Self-Driving Car Technology for a Reliable Ride. (n.d.). Waymo. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://waymo.com/waymo-driver/ [Rationale: Directly from the Waymo site showing the new advancements of their self driving cars and all the features and benefits connecting to it]

UPS's DeliveryDefense pits AI against criminals. (2023, December 22). About UPS. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://about.ups.com/us/en/our-stories/innovation-driven/ups-s-deliverydefense-pits-ai-against-criminals.html

[Rationale: Shows how UPS has tried to put a hold on stolen items with AI being able to track down people and remembering its routes to track back to the perpetrator.]

Transportation - UPS Route Planning

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 17:26:57 UTC

UPS and many other delivering companies have used AI to build routes that optimize the amount of time, miles on a vehicle and the fuel needed for the various trips. With the most optimal route taken it leads to more deliveries and less money spent on gas which overall increases your profits by a huge margin. For example, UPS uses an AI powered system, called ORION which effortlessly produces these routes with just a few clicks on a computer or device. The specific tools used are machine learning and data analytics. This new technology also helps with environmental factors including greenhouse gases being emitted. With less gas being used means less of these gases being emitted which overall leads to a better environment. I believe this is a very important development from AI that could be implemented into everyone's phone or vehicle to be universally used. This would save the average person a lot of money on gas and vehicles that are older or very used.

Transportation - Amazon Prime Air

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 17:42:33 UTC

Everyone has probably ordered something online whether that be through Amazon or other websites. Throughout the years these companies have implemented uses of AI to help better their delivery service. With the launch of Amazon Prime Air, not to be confused with the airplane, these drones would help deliver certain products in less than 30 minutes. With implementations such as machine learning and computer vision, drones can reduce delivery time and provide more reliability on their products. These drones also are way more cost-efficient than delivery and reduces reliance on old customary ways. Some downsides to this are birds trying to take down these drones or sometimes even people. Trying to avoid this could produce problems so there still has to be new advancements to prevent this. Overall I believe that this would be great for the delivery world. The transportation of items to people is very important and making that time shorter saves a lot of money for a lot of different people.

Video

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 23:33:15 UTC

Video last 2 minutes...

davidsohre — 2025-01-17 23:38:31 UTC