Safety and Self-Driving Cars

The first autonomous vehicle-pedestrian fatality in Arizona this past week marks a certain point in the evolution of these vehicles in the U.S.

I’ve talked to a host of media representatives who are asking questions like, “Are autonomous vehicles — or self-driving cars — ready to launch? Aren’t they programmed to be perfect driving machines — not ones that fail to detect pedestrians right in front of them? Are they safe for public streets?

These are understandable questions. But there is much more to this discussion.

First, it’s important to remember that accidents involving any vehicle can occur, even a vehicle operated by artificial intelligence. That’s because as long as humans are involved, there will be accidents.

Consider that the first automobile-pedestrian fatality occurred in 1896, seven years before the Model A’s debut. A woman in Britain was struck by a car moving at just 4 m.p.h. — because she walked in front of it.

Car manufacturing continued anyway, because the benefits of autos over horses were obvious. In other words, the risk was worth the reward.

This first self-driving car-pedestrian fatality doesn’t erase the benefits of these vehicles. They will reduce accidents, widen affordable access to transportation, and increase fuel efficiency, among other benefits.

But people don’t know much about these vehicles; that’s why most Americans still distrust the idea of self-driving cars. A fatality only amplifies this mistrust.

Nonetheless, legislators are passing legislation enabling the deployment, under various conditions, of self-driving cars on public roads. These laws also offer flexibility for manufacturers, given the still-evolving state of this transportation.

This is happening without, I would argue, adequate public discussion and education.

Certainly, these legislators are hoping to attract self-driving car manufacturing to their cities. The combination of their fear of public rejection of self-driving cars and competition for these economic benefits have led them to oversell this technology before people understand it.

The public needs to learn more about the role of the driver and pedestrians — i.e., do not assume the vehicle will stop if you decide to jaywalk. If people believe self-driving cars are perfect machines that cannot have accidents, what happens when one occurs?

They will blame the technology, which is not the correct response. One hundred years ago, horse-and-carriage-era riders had to learn about horseless vehicles just as we face driverless ones. They did it by trial and era.

Today, we know better. Good relationships rely on trust, which comes from open and frank discussion. This first self-driving car-pedestrian death calls for us to engage the public rather than to wait for the storm, and the current media cycle, to pass.

Self-driving cars are worth the risk, just as automobiles were in 1896. We just have to take things one step and a time.