There is a grave danger that Tesla's precocious push of autonomous features could result in a PR disaster for self-driving technology if it actually ends up killing someone.
We shouldn't have this in the wild until we're sure it's ready.
We shouldn't have this in the wild until we're sure it's ready.
So, there's going to be some deaths. Without a doubt, before autonomous cars are fully integrated into society, there will be some deaths that would not have happened with a human driver. That's always the cost of human progress.
Of course we should do everything we can to minimize it as much as possible, but there's no way to guarantee a new technology will be 100% perfect on the first try, or the second try, or the 50th try. What scares me is that one of these deaths will happen and the public outcry will kill the whole endeavor before it ever gets off the ground. We shouldn't let that happen.
More problems are caused by taking things too fast than taking it too slow. Full self driving cars are probably farther off than you guys seem to think.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_i...
EDIT: per VMT
Not all Tesla cars are going to be driven in self-driving mode at first, so we can expect the numbers to look much worse early on. If only 20 percent of Tesla drivers let the cars self-drive (and of course only the newer Teslas will be capable of self driving because of sensors, etc.) we are down to 2 deaths expected by human drivers in that 20 percent.
I used to think that these kinds of numbers would act as a barrier to the development of self-driving cars, but each time one car has an accident all of the cars will learn how to avoid it the next time. Every human driver has to learn what to do around icy roads, what to do when cut off by a car in a neighboring lane, what to do when approaching a neighborhood where kids and dogs are playing ball in the front yards, but a self-driving car only has to learn once and all the other self-driving cars will know what to do too.
When I was growing up, there were around 6 or 7 times as many people killed per vehicle-miles traveled. I hope that self-driving cars won't be as dangerous as the cars of the 50's and 60's when they first hit the road. In the longer run as thousands and eventually millions of self-driving cars begin driving I expect them to improve rapidly though their shared experiences.
In this case, the sensors do not actually monitor the complete space taken up by the vehicle, so this kind of accident would be impossible to prevent by modifying software.
autonomous system design errors or failures have been involved in many accidents/deaths (trains, planes, just not yet automobiles)
non-autonomous cars are involved in over 30k deaths per year in the US in mostly preventable accidents
i'm not saying that autonomous driving systems shouldn't be as good as possible or improved constantly but just wanted to put this into perspective
I agree. We need to get all car ads off TV and quit pushing for people to own automobiles. Pushing this technology into the hands of as many unqualified people as possible is a recipe for death and disaster, killing tens of thousands of people each year.
I'll push for any technology which will kill fewer people.