Autonomous Vehicles Triumphing Over Evil Human Drivers? New Book Offers “Alternative” Scenario

In the real world, autonomous vehicles are still a work in progress as they become a more familiar sight on our city roads. In Noah Pickholtz’s fictional world however, they’re heroes combatting against the evils of distracted driving.

Pickholtz, a founder and tech investor based in Jerusalem, has written a pro-autonomous vehicle children’s book that centres on the titular heroine, cheekily named “Ayvee Hickle.”

It’s part of a broader effort by a small team at StellarNova publishing to familiarize the next generation with “autonomous vehicles, women in STEM fields, and beyond,” Pickholtz, StellarNova’s chief creative officer, told Business Insider.

In Eastern countries such as Japan, society tends to look favorably upon “autonomous elements,” he said, whereas the West can tend to think “Terminator” when they hear of robots. Books like “Ayvee Hickle” could be the antidote.

“That perception is definitely changing, and hopefully, we can be assistive in moving people’s minds to appreciate the value of what can be done,” he said.

In the story, Ayvee Hickel is a young female car with “extraordinary” gifts that later allow her to fight against the book’s villain, the diabolical Distracto.

Distracto is a monster truck representing everything wrong with human drivers. He causes other cars on the road to crash with his “Distracto-ray,” which sends vehicles “non-stop texts and notifications.” The book doesn’t explicitly depict human drivers, but the reference is clear.

“There was an externality concept of moving it out from the individual as being responsible to an external bad character,” Pickholtz said, wanting to depict the behaviors rather than the humans doing them.

Ayvee Hickel overcomes the obstacles thrown at her in the book – including bad weather – using superpowers activated by a computer named “Chippy.” The powers include camera vision and “radar and lidar super-sensors.”

(Pic: StellaNova)