Self-Driving Cars: The Future or a Future Mistake?

Recent reports came in that a self-driving Lexus, courtesy of Apple, was rear-ended on August 24th, 2018. While no injuries were reported, both vehicles suffered damage. The report indicates that the self-driving car was merging into another lane at less than 1 mph, while the other car was driving around 15 mph. Why such a slow speed, though? The self-driving car was waiting for a big enough gap to safely merge. It is a bit ironic, though, because this “safe” merge resulted in a fender-bender.
If this was not the fault of the self-driving car, how could self-driving cars be a mistake? This is not the first time that an accident has occurred with vehicles on auto-pilot. Back in March of this year, a self-driving Uber vehicle hit a pedestrian and resulted in a fatality. The Uber vehicle even had a person in it, to help monitor for these kind of events. While this was not the fault of the company itself, it shows the same type of message as the Apple incident: it is very clear that more work needs to be done in regards to the safety features of auto-pilot vehicles.
Apple is not expected to launch any public self-driving cars until at least 2023. Hopefully by then, the kinks will be worked out. We need to be making an effort for safer roads, but we cannot achieve that with the poor publicity that self-driving cars are getting now. Powerhouse companies, like Apple and Uber, have changed technology and the future already. I believe they will remedy the issues and impact the future in a positive manner. For now, all we can do is drive ourselves to work and carry on with our days.
Original article from Mashable: https://mashable.com/article/apple-car-crash/?utm_cid=hp-hh-sec#IAb_piO4naqO