Uber has taken the world by storm with its innovative groundbreaking transportation service. This is a company which literally came from nowhere to reinvent the taxi industry and while it is not all been plain sailing, the company now has a worldwide presence. Last week saw yet another hiccup in the development of Uber with news that one of the company’s self-driving vehicles had been involved in an accident. The three self-driving car pilot programs were suspended on Friday but they were “back on the road” on Monday.
So what happened?
On Friday one of the company’s self-driving vehicles in Tempe was involved in an accident in which the car flipped over onto its side. There were obvious concerns that the technology had malfunctioned, self-driving vehicles were not safe and this could be the end of the road for Uber’s pilot program. However, in order to clarify the situation the company has released the police report which confirms that a human driven vehicle failed to stop and caused the crash with the Uber car although thankfully there were no injuries.
Under current laws even though these vehicles are self-driving they still require individuals to be sitting in the front seats. In this particular instance a driver and an engineer from Uber were sitting in the Volvo SUV and could give the company a bird’s eye view of the accident.
Are self-driving vehicles safe?
In many ways it is ignorance of this new technology which automatically prompts concern when there is an accident. The truth is there will be accidents involving self-driving vehicles for many years to come but safety will be improved for the benefit of everybody. Even critics of self-driving technology readily admit that human drivers have shown little variation on their safety record for many years. However, the way in which self-driving technology works means that the vehicle will learn on an ongoing basis hopefully reducing the 23,000 traffic fatalities per week around the globe.
Are the public ready?
The technology may be available, the cars may be available but it is debatable as to whether the general public are ready for self-driving vehicles. Like electric vehicles, where there have been major improvements in technology, it is taking some time to change the opinion of traditional drivers. In many ways self-driving vehicles could be an even harder sell to the general public even though human error is far worse of a danger.
We have seen many companies around the world investing billions of dollars into self-driving technology. It is a technology which is here to stay, it will eventually improve road safety but at this moment in time it is difficult to pinpoint one action which could change the mindset of the general public. Even though the Uber vehicle was not at fault in last week’s crash it did cause concern and headlines which were perhaps misleading and ill informed.
Conclusion
Despite reluctance from the driving community to accept self-driving vehicles it is easy to forget that many public sector transport services already take in this type of technology. It is the idea of handing control over to a computer which is at the root of these concerns but computers learn and safety will most certainly be improved on the roads. It may take some time, may not be a smooth transition but self-driving vehicles will eventually, like electric vehicles today, be accepted by the wider driving public.