HUB’S DRIVERLESS CARS
Head-scratching over hands-off approach
The city’s decision to allow self-driving car company nuTonomy to expand test runs from the Seaport into other neighborhoods throughout the city raised concerns among some, while others said the change is inevitable.
“What if something was to happen? Who's to blame? I think there will probably be backlash from people in the city of Boston. … I think I would have more trust in humans (driving).”
— Emily Bacchiocchi, 22, of Wareham
“I'm a believer in technology, but I'm not sure we're ready for that yet. A lot of things can happen that you don't expect to happen until we change the whole system.”
— Mark Zolla, 57, of Duxbury
“I'm kind of excited, but concerned. … I am a safe walker, but I'm concerned with the risk takers.”
— Merlisia Cardinal, 46, of Quincy
“I'm all right with it. From what I've seen they seem to have a better reaction than human drivers.”
— Cindy Silva, 44, of Winthrop
“I have a long commute, and with the nonsense I see going on around me I'd be more comfortable with one car doing one job rather than a human doing many jobs when driving a car.”
— Jennifer Hanson, 48, of Boxford
“I know it's going to happen at some point, so I guess it's good if you're testing it in a place where people don't know how to drive anyway.”
— Avery Brown, 22, of Brookline
“I don't know the stats for human error versus autonomous vehicles, but it doesn't seem that much higher. It's inevitable. ... With all of the advancements and features they can sometimes be better than a person.”
— David Conegliano, 27, of Back Bay
“I'm not really worried based on what I've seen . ... From what I understand there are low enough incidents at this point in the development.”
— Victor Antontsev, 25, of Somerville