“Forget cures for cancer, climate change or world peace, the media has made it clear that self-driving cars will be the Next Great Step in civilization’s drive toward magnificence,” Steven Hill writes for Observer. “It’s time to hit the brakes for a reality check.”
“Despite how much Uber CEO Travis Kalanick likes to crow about our ‘driverless future,’ outside of The Jetsons this one is… not… happening… soon,” Hill writes. “Besides the remaining technological challenges, the liability and regulatory issues involved in letting a 3,000-pound death machine steer itself with no human at the controls are huge.”
“Think about it: Every driver makes hundreds of daily driving decisions that, strictly speaking, break driving laws (for example, crossing the yellow line to pull around a double-parked vehicle). It all works out fine because of something called ‘human judgment,'” Hill writes. “But what company is going to program its driverless cars to break the law? And what regulators will approve that product, knowing that it has been programmed to break the law?”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Thank you, Steven.
SEE ALSO:
Apple vs. Google in self-driving cars: To map or not to map? – March 6, 2015
