Self-Driving Cars, Not So Fast
July 26, 2019
Several major companies are backing off plans to put fleets of self-driving cars into routine use in the near future, largely because of complications in dealing with human drivers—along with pedestrians, cyclists, and other roadway users—who often behave in unpredictable ways that baffle current technologies. They could have heeded recent Issues articles that argued for adopting a slow-but-sure strategy to commercialization of autonomous vehicles and resisting their advocates’ life-saving claims that steer discussion of traffic safety away from alternative approaches.