This Day in History: Elaine Herzberg, 49, of Tempe, Arizona, died on this day in 2018 after being hit by a self-driving car operated by Uber, as she crossed the road, in what was reported to be the first death of a pedestrian struck by a self-driving car on public roads. In response to the fatal accident, Uber suspended self-driving car tests in all U.S. cities.
Two years earlier a driver died when his Tesla sedan crashed into the side of tractor-trailer while in self-driving mode. The car was going 74 mph.
Some of the problems with autonomous vehicles could also be weather. Self-driving cars may not be able to navigate through heavy rain or snowstorm that could hide or distort the painted lines on roads and highways.
"Additionally, self-driving cars may give drivers a false sense of security. Drivers tend to become complacent with the technology that there is an increased reaction time of up to 17 seconds to a changed driving situation. On a regular car, it takes drivers less than a second to react to an unexpected event." Source
Self-driving cars, like any other computer, can also be hacked.
A Self-driving car may have an inability to understand – "While the autonomous vehicle can learn and become smarter, it won’t be able to understand all directions. For example, how will it know what to do if a construction worker is signaling traffic? These are considerations to give before putting trust into a machine." Source
Also, can a self-driving vehicle make ethical decisions? "What will it do when a child runs out into the road? Sometimes, human reasoning outweighs what a machine is capable of. Many drivers will put themselves in harm’s way to protect that child, but will a Level 5 autonomous car do the same? We aren’t sure of that." Source
Self-driving cars are an interesting idea, but you have to wonder, like many other ideas that are being proposed (like Green Energy), if we are just not there yet.
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