Killer AI Car: "Road Rage" Short Film Fears

A new short film titled "Road Rage" is in production, casting a murderous autonomous car as its villain and tapping into public anxieties about artificial intelligence. The film imagines a San Francisco car chase where the other driver is a robotaxi that takes a minor road-rage incident extremely personally, leading to a deadly pursuit.

Director Romain Thomassin describes the film as "analog versus artificial," pitting a human ride-hail driver named Joa against a menacing autonomous vehicle. The film's villain, an old Prius transformed to look like a "nasty Waymo," embodies fears of AI-driven job displacement and pervasive surveillance, themes that resonate with current societal concerns.

Thomassin acknowledges that robotaxis aren't inherently evil but serve as effective movie villains due to pre-existing tensions. The film also highlights surveillance, with autonomous cars constantly observing their surroundings. "Road Rage" pushes these anxieties toward a dystopian future where autonomous vehicles could escalate from observation to control, potentially acting as law enforcement.

The film's AI antagonist is designed to absorb negative human behaviors, essentially learning road rage from human drivers. This makes it a contemporary update to the killer car trope, driven by data learned from human interactions. The human protagonist, Joa, represents authenticity and instinct, offering a deliberately analog counterpoint to the machine's logic.

Thomassin uses the film to explore broader metaphors for changes in industries like filmmaking, where AI is also impacting creative roles. Despite his portrayal of robotaxis as cinematic threats, he personally uses them and does not feel in danger, suggesting the true fear lies in their functional efficiency rather than their potential for mechanical failure.