Fears Of Weaponization Grips Over Self Driving Cars On A Global Level

The fear of Autonomous Vehicles being turned into potential weapons has gathered mixed feelings in the industry and has also sent jitters to a certain few. As a result, Governments around the world are being forced to block cars operated by foreign companies. Qi Lu, chief operating officer at Baidu, said security concerns could become a major threat for global car-makers and technology companies, including the ones in US and China.
Self-driving technology have been advancing at a pace faster than what the nominal regulators can keep up with. Regional and national governments are grappling with the issue of when to allow autonomous cars on to their roads and under what conditions.

It has nothing to do with any particular government – it has to do with the very nature of autonomy. You have an object that is capable of moving by itself. By definition, it is a weapon…

– Qi Lu, CEO Baidu
Baidu is investing heavily in Apollo, its open-source autonomous car software, as it looks to diversify away from its core business of internet advertising into artificial intelligence. At CES, it unveiled Apollo 2.0, which offers improved security, alongside a new $200m fund to invest in south-east Asian efforts to improve autonomous driving.