Error-Prone

The latest endeavor in the world of automobiles is the concept of self-driving cars. It would appear that the task is now entirely possible, although the change itself is rather tricky. Forcing everyone to switch is not a very feasible idea, while having both computer and human-driven cars on the roads at the same time raises a whole new set of issues.

Error-Prone is a simulator that aims to show you the benefit of relying on computers to drive our cars. It’s not really a game per se, because there are no levels, scores or a story to follow. Instead, this is more of an interactive simulation designed to prove a point: People are slow, inaccurate and unpredictable behind the wheel. Most of you were probably aware of this, but the results are quite neat to see in action.

In essence, the entire game is just a circle of 26 cars driving flawlessly behind each other, obviously controlled by the computer. Each car has a letter on the keyboard assigned to it, and you can jump in behind the wheel at any point by simply pressing the appropriate key. From then on, you can see just how difficult it is to avoid jams and stay in line with the other cars.

Since there are 26 cars in the circle, it is theoretically possible for 26 people to control each vehicle. Obviously, this is not very practical on a keyboard, but you can still try it with one or two friends to see how it goes. With enough practice, it is still possible to make it without accidents, but small jams and delays are a given, regardless of how smooth you manage to accelerate and brake.

Speaking of accidents, the game’s graphics are very basic and unimpressive, but that doesn’t mean they are ugly. Once you accelerate too much and bump into the vehicle in front, the accidents get quite spectacular, or at least as exciting as ten-polygon meshes can allow. It’s all about the message, on the other hand, and the game sends a pretty loud and clear one.

Error-Prone is quite the interesting piece of propaganda, especially since it works so smoothly. Even if the scenario presented by the game is not very realistic, it’s but a glimpse at what self-driving cars can achieve, not to mention the fact that they are designed to save as many lives as possible.