Improve standards for self-driving cars
Ariz. accident stresses need for federal clarity
The accident in Arizona where an Uber self-driving car killed a pedestrian highlights ethical questions that companies face as they develop selfdriving cars in an environment that lacks a detailed federal framework.
When considered as part of a broader suite of technologies and policies, self-driving cars hold enormous potential to significantly reduce the estimated 100 daily and 40,000 annual fatalities on U.S. roadways — a death rate of epidemic proportions.
Yet to fully deploy this life-saving technology will require extensive testing on public roads. At the same time, it also means allowing testing and deployment of these technologies as they are being developed and fine-tuned.
This dilemma is compounded by the lack of clarity about when a self-driving car is safe enough to be on public roadways. While the federal government has the appropriate authority to investigate this crash and recall vehicles, limitations mean even a poorly programmed, self-driving car can be deemed roadworthy by the current regulatory framework, because it doesn’t specify safety performance requirements for autonomous operation.
The lack of a foundation leaves companies to individually grapple with the difficult question of how safe is safe enough? This decision could — and should — be made by the government in consultation with industry and other experts. Legislation before Congress would force an accelerated process for creating standards for self-driving vehicles and technologies.
The risk of premature deployment is well-understood: Public welfare is harmed by the deployment of unsafe technology. However, delayed deployment would deprive society of the improved safety benefits. Without guidance, companies will inevitably err both in being too aggressive and deploying prematurely, or in being too cautious and continuing to privately develop the technology even once it is safe enough to benefit the public.
Last year, we served on a commis- sion organized by Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) that urged developers to commit, even before comprehensive regulations are written, to only testing or deploying self-driving cars that would enhance safety. The fundamental truth is that self-driving cars only need to be better than today’s imperfect drivers for the public to benefit. It is important to manage public expectations on this front.
If companies committed to only deploying self-driving cars once they can responsibly represent them as “safer than the average human driver,” they would always represent a net benefit to the public. Acceptance of self-driving cars is a reasonable and prudent risk of which the benefits will outweigh risks in the long term. Only transparency, accountability and other actions that improve roadway safety will clearly communicate that to the public.
Few in the the industry or government would argue with assertions that it is still too early in the development of self-driving technology to create comprehensive and enforceable regulations immediately. That is why the pending legislation would create the necessary set of interim regulations that would require developers to be more transparent about their safety efforts, philosophy and performance.
It is telling that this industry is nearly universally supportive of the legislative effort even though it would significantly increase regulatory burdens on autonomous vehicle developers.
Every life lost on American roadways is unnecessary, and a thorough investigation of the Uber crash will offer important lessons to improve the safety of self-driving cars. In the meantime, the industry, stakeholders and the federal government must work together to set transparent, ethical safety standards that are essential for protecting the public even while laying the groundwork for a future where selfdriving cars meet their full potential.
Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 2006-09, heads the Commission on Autonomous Vehicle Testing and Safety at Securing America’s Future Energy. Amitai Bin-Nun is the vice president of Autonomous Vehicles and Mobility Innovation at SAFE.