Automated mobilities: From weaponized drones to killer bots

Abstract

The article develops the conjecture that automated mobilities are particularly characteristic of the digital era. Acknowledging that the development of the mobilities paradigm has been especially fruitful for the social sciences, the article contends that the advent of artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and accelerating automation makes new conceptual and methodological demands on mobilities research. In the first section of the article, I briefly review aspects of the ongoing development of the mobilities paradigm, with particular emphasis on the emergent contours of what I shall term ‘mobilities 3.0’. The second section focuses on several key aspects of complex automated systems, with specific reference to the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), advanced robotics and accelerating automation, along with how some of the mobilities transitions attendant upon these are registering in mobilities research. In the final section, I turn to analyse one particular instance of automated mobilities: namely, AI military technology and weapons systems. I conclude by setting out some conjectures on the relations between AI, automated mobilities and the paradigm of mobilities.