A software developer comments:
Thoughts of interested readers:
"Yes, self-driven cars will not ever be distracted by cellphones or other tasks, and may numerically be involved in less accidents. But, some of the accidents self-driving cars will be in, would not have happened with an alert driver at the wheel (see the Tesla autopilot accident where the sensors were blinded by the sun and could not see the white truck crossing across traffic).
If we surrender all driving to machines, it means statistically lower fatalities... but it means that we will have to accept as a society that some people will die in cars that make mistakes that a human driver could have avoided. That is a lot taller order than it may seem.
There's also a large missing piece about liability... who is liable if a self-driving car kills someone? The auto maker? The software writer? Our entire insurance regime has to be reconsidered."
Quote from article:
"The report also explicitly recognizes that automated cars are safer than human-controlled cars. This is already true, and they will only get safer. After 1.8 million miles of driving, Google’s automated cars were in 13 fender-benders, 100% caused by other drivers.
Further, having automated cars on the road will increase safety for everyone – not just those in the automated cars. The higher the percentage, the safer our roads will be. Germany concluded this creates an ethical imperative for governments to facilitate self-driving cars. Perhaps one day they will be mandatory."