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Seg. 1: Collision-Reducing Tech Not Used On Semitrucks. Seg. 2: Human Relationships With Technology.

The technology to assist semitrucks in avoiding collisions has been available for years, but it hasn't been installed on most of the ones on the road.
Tech Sgt. Larry E. Reid, Jr.
/
U.S. Air Force
The technology to assist semitrucks in avoiding collisions has been available for years, but it hasn't been installed on most of the ones on the road.

Segment 1: As crashes involving large trucks continue to increase, resistance to crash avoidance and mitigation technology remains.

When a tractor-trailer truck runs into the back end of a passenger vehicle at highway speed, there's a good chance that people will die. Today, jumping off an recent Kansas City Star investigation, we talked about collisions between trucks and passenger vehicles, the number of resulting deaths and potential preventive measures.


Segment 2, beginning at 24:05: "Because humans can make more informed guesses with very little information, we're still superior to automation ... "

While the technology for driverless cars and other new technologies are out there, humans aren't being replaced when it comes to completing many daily tasks — at least not yet. Today we learned why, despite  the increase in automation, robotics and artificial intelligence technology, we are still years away from being obsolete.

Mary Cummings presents “From Drones to Flying Cars: New Frontiers in Human-Technology Interaction,”  7:00 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 13 at the Linda Hall Library, 5109 Cherry, Kansas City, Missouri 64110. The lecture is free and open to the public, but e-tickets are required.

Copyright 2021 KCUR 89.3. To see more, visit KCUR 89.3.

Steve Kraske is an associate teaching professor of journalism at UMKC, a political columnist for The Kansas City Star and has hosted "Up to Date" since 2002. He worked as the full-time political correspondent for The Star from 1994-2013 covering national, state and local campaigns. He also has covered the statehouses in Topeka and Jefferson City.
Danette (Danie) Alexander first came to KCUR in 2007 as an intern for Up to Date after completing her B.A. in Communications at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. After her KCUR internship was completed, Danie continued to spend her mornings assisting senior producer Stephen Steigman as a volunteer with the show. Her radio experience also includes stints with public radio's New Letters on the Air as a broadcast engineer and on local public radio as host of a weekly overnight call-in show.