Most driving is done by humans. Humans are terrible at it and kill people unnecessarily all the time. That's the standard to beat. Speaking as someone who rides a bike on city streets, I really don't give a shit how many people Uber kills, as long as it's less than human drivers would. This whole thread smells like Monday morning quarterbacking and people throwing aside reason under stereotype threat. (Techies are in love with technology, techies are in thrall to startup narratives and oblivious to social responsibility. Everyone's anxious to disprove that.)
In fact, the mistake Uber made here was relying on a human being to do a job that is routine and boring the vast bulk of the time but occasionally requires life-saving decisions that depend on attentive awareness of the surroundings. That's the same mistake our entire civilization makes a million times a day. The fact that the operator had fewer responsibilities than a normal driver probably magnified the problem, but it's the same problem that makes driving fundamentally dangerous. She thought she was doing a good enough job and then oops, guess not, somebody's dead.
That happens every day without robot drivers involved. The standards we hold autonomous driving technology to should reflect this insane status quo.
In fact, the mistake Uber made here was relying on a human being to do a job that is routine and boring the vast bulk of the time but occasionally requires life-saving decisions that depend on attentive awareness of the surroundings. That's the same mistake our entire civilization makes a million times a day. The fact that the operator had fewer responsibilities than a normal driver probably magnified the problem, but it's the same problem that makes driving fundamentally dangerous. She thought she was doing a good enough job and then oops, guess not, somebody's dead.
That happens every day without robot drivers involved. The standards we hold autonomous driving technology to should reflect this insane status quo.