I've been thinking about this and cringing in wait for the lobbying against self-driving cars from police unions.
But then I thought, that couldn't happen, because it's too clear that any such lobbying puts police unions squarely at odds with citizen safety. Now, shoot-first cops, civil forfeiture, and highly militarized police forces already point at this, but there's plausible deniability. Opposing self-driving cars could be too direct of a swipe at public safety from public safety officers.
I agree. Law enforcement will definitely have to change, though. Right now, traffic infractions are a way for the police to look for other criminal activity. Pulled over for speeding? Cool - let's run your license to see if you have any warrants. Let's see if I can find something else that you're doing.
Self-driving cars will completely remove this avenue of investigation because there will be much fewer infractions.
I think that this is a good thing and a bad thing. On the one hand, you won't get police harassing random innocent people on the off-chance that they're criminals. On the other hand, the police will start doing other things because they don't have to pull people over anymore, and those things might be much more invasive.
But then I thought, that couldn't happen, because it's too clear that any such lobbying puts police unions squarely at odds with citizen safety. Now, shoot-first cops, civil forfeiture, and highly militarized police forces already point at this, but there's plausible deniability. Opposing self-driving cars could be too direct of a swipe at public safety from public safety officers.
I don't know...