The War on Self-Driving Cars Will Kill People
The article argues that regulatory opposition to self-driving cars will delay their adoption and cause more deaths from human driving errors. It says the technology, though imperfect, could save tens of thousands of lives annually by eliminating human mistakes as the leading cause of crashes.
Background
- Self-driving cars (autonomous vehicles / AVs) use sensors and AI to operate without a human driver. Waymo (Google/Alphabet) runs commercial robotaxis in several U.S. cities; Tesla has promised full autonomy for years without delivering it.
- About 40,000 people die in U.S. traffic crashes each year, nearly all due to human error. Proponents argue that even imperfect AVs would save many of those lives.
- Critics point to AVs struggling with unusual road situations and some high-profile accidents. Regulators in places like San Francisco have slowed AV expansion over safety concerns.
- This piece on Reason.com (a libertarian magazine) argues that restricting self-driving cars is effectively choosing human error over machine error, and that delays will cost lives.