Fiction

You Have Reached Your Destination

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My wife had always been a nervous car passenger. She used to read maps to try to navigate us to where we needed to go but it only made her more nervous. Drivers getting too close or sounding their horns made her jump. When we finally got a satnav in our car it took the burden of map reading away but the nervousness remained.

We were both in our mid sixties when we installed our first AI assisted satnav and we were disappointed at first. Although the female voice sounded a lot more natural than the previous versions, it did not necessarily seem much more intelligent.

But it was learning.

‘Be careful up ahead. There is a tricky bend right behind this tunnel and cars get backed up’.

I slowed down a bit and turned the windshield wipers off.

‘We’re late. I told you we should have left earlier. It’s the start of the school holidays. Better get our skates on’.

The mini-jam resolved and we were off. Same boring road. Speed limit strictly enforced for the next 126 km. Three lanes moving at the same speed, everyone on cruise control, a recipe for disaster.

‘The rest of the drive should be pretty sunny. Did you bring your sunglasses? You know you start squinting if the sun’s too bright’.