Uber drops self-driving operation in Arizona, following fatality

Well it’s starting to look like self-driving cars will go the way of Google Glass. The public will simply not accept them. Something like 50,000 people in the U.S. are killed each year in automobile accidents and no one bats an eyelash. Yet people are indeed convinced that driving a car is safer than flying in an airplane even though ALL the data and statistics prove otherwise.  All it took was a couple of fatalities for the recriminations and hand wringing over autonomous vehicles to start. Add to that the state of the legal system in this country and you know the injury lawyers are salivating over the prospects. Much easier for a jury to blame a machine than a human. Self-driving cars are a solution to a problem no one cares about and no one believes. Those testing them just don’t know it yet. Apple and others will never EVER convince the general public that these vehicles are safe. Yes, momma, stupid is as stupid does. And you just know that there will those, “Here, hold my beer while I try to fuck over up this auto-car here, Bubba” moments.

Uber takes shortcuts and makes ethically questionable decisions that negatively affect people. Shocking¡

lkrupp said:

Well it’s starting to look like self-driving cars will go the way of Google Glass.

No it isn’t.

In my view, driving a vehicle is as much an art as it is science. When this is treated as a pure science, ignoring the art part - problems are bound to happen. In my view, the focus of technology should be to help the human driver minimise the accidents/impact due to accident through various built-in mechanisms, instead of removing the human from the driving role.

lkrupp said:

Well it’s starting to look like self-driving cars will go the way of Google Glass. The public will simply not accept them. Something like 50,000 people in the U.S. are killed each year in automobile accidents and no one bats an eyelash. Yet people are indeed convinced that driving a car is safer than flying in an airplane even though ALL the data and statistics prove otherwise.  All it took was a couple of fatalities for the recriminations and hand wringing over autonomous vehicles to start. Add to that the state of the legal system in this country and you know the injury lawyers are salivating over the prospects. Much easier for a jury to blame a machine than a human. Self-driving cars are a solution to a problem no one cares about and no one believes. Those testing them just don’t know it yet. Apple and others will never EVER convince the general public that these vehicles are safe. Yes, momma, stupid is as stupid does. And you just know that there will those, “Here, hold my beer while I try to fuck over up this auto-car here, Bubba” moments.

Don't assume that because Uber half-arsed it and had to pack it in that this applies to anyone else. The stats on the need for driver intervention comparing Uber and Google are insane, something like every 13km vs 9000km. Uber should never have been on the road. Google is streets ahead. I would guess that Apple will be getting the tech spot on before they get out on the street and will hopefully have some tech in place to prevent their testers from drifting off and killing someone. It'll take time but this is already happening.

franklinjackcon said:
 I would guess that Apple will be getting the tech spot on before they get out on the street and will hopefully have some tech in place to prevent their testers from drifting off and killing someone. It'll take time but this is already happening.

Face ID tech seems primed for determining whether the pilot is reasonably situationally aware.