We keep hearing that there will be “driverless” vehicles on our nation’s roads in the future. They will be controlled by sensors and software instead of human beings.
That is a source of great concern for me, because I have been a passenger in a self-driving vehicle. It was a harrowing experience.
Bobby Alost was in his first week as president of Northwestern in the 1980s when he called me to his office one morning. There were some legislative hearings at the capitol early the next day, and he wanted me to attend them with him.
He said we would leave at 4:30. I looked forward to having a nice dinner with some alumni and elected officials in Baton Rouge that night as we had done countless times over the years before going to the following day’s meetings.
After finishing up some things at the office, I went home and packed for the overnight trip and went to Bobby’s office at 4:15. Everybody knew he hated for people to be late.
Bobby said we would go in his car, so I carried my well-worn suit bag with a change of clothes into his office. He asked what I was doing with a travel bag, and I wondered if he planned to wear those same clothes to dinner that night and meetings the next day.
The misunderstanding was cleared up when Bobby explained that we were leaving at 4:30 the next morning for the 8 a.m. meetings in Baton Rouge. I didn’t remember ever getting up and being dressed by 4:30 a.m.
Bobby and I had been friends a long time. We jogged together a lot of days at noon, played badminton, socialized, shared meals and things like that. Normally, I would have objected to the pre-dawn trip. But he was my boss now, so I agreed to the schedule.
When I got to his office the next morning at 4:20, he was in the driver’s seat of the car with the lights on bright and country music on the radio. He was cheerful, and I was sleep-walking.
I dozed off before we got out of the city limits. As we were traveling along one of the segments of Interstate 49 that had not been open very long, I kept hearing a thrashing noise as I tried to sleep.
It sounded like a heavy rain pounding the car. But I had checked the weather the night before, and it was supposed to be a beautiful sunny day.
When I finally opened my eyes, all I could see was weeds and brush slapping against the windshield. We were in the median between the divided highways going full blast through the undergrowth that was not being cleared very often in those days.
I looked over at Alost, who was sound asleep. His head was back on the seat with his eyes closed and mouth open. Both arms were down by his side. The cruise control was on, and we were going 70 miles an hour through the median.
Bobby was a big, burly guy, and I didn’t want him to wake up suddenly and lunge at the steering wheel. I turned the cruise off, got a hand on the wheel and started lowering the speed with the cruise control.
We were easing to a stop in the jungle between the two highways when Bobby sprang to life. He seemed stunned that we were coming to a standstill in the weeds and wildflowers while vehicles zipped by in different directions on each side of us.
There was a brief but lively discussion about driverless cars and getting up in the middle of the night to travel. He was glad to finish his nap in the passenger seat while I drove to Baton Rouge.
Every time I see or hear anything about driverless cars, my thoughts drift back to that trip with Bobby Alost and chills run down my spine.
REPRINTED FROM THE NATCHITOCHES TIMES