Meet the Academics Trying to Stop You From Having Sex in Robotaxis
Academics are researching ways to prevent antisocial behavior, specifically sexual activity, inside autonomous robotaxis. The goal is to ensure public trust and acceptance of self-driving technology by maintaining social norms within these new communal spaces.
Why it matters
As autonomous vehicles become more common, developers must address how to manage user behavior in private-public spaces to ensure the technology's long-term viability.
“People are hard to predict,” Bazilinskyy says. It’s why he researches what he does. So his prurient pursuit had a point. Robotaxis without cabbies behind the wheel have started picking up passengers in a handful of countries, including the US. Meanwhile, there’s a long history of people getting up to antisocial behavior inside the quasi-private or straight-up public spaces of trains, planes, and automobiles—think the prom night limo, the “Mile High Club,” Tom Cruise in slow motion aboard the Chicago L in Risky Business, the stuff he found on PornHub.
What might riders do when there’s no authority figure inside a vehicle to say, “Hey, stop that!”? What do they do? Can people be convinced to stop before they start?
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