First Take

The selfdriving car.

In the news right now is the story about the self-driving car, being tested by Uber, that hit and killed a pedestrian in Tempe last week.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has since suspended Uber from testing autonomous vehicles in the Grand Canyon State.

Now there is a story that contends Uber turned off a feature — the “advanced driver-assistance system” — that might have prevented the collision. Hopefully the investigation will provide us with more concrete details.

All I can say is, I’ve seen the video of the collision, which is horrific, and what makes this whole tragedy even worse is the other video that shows the driver not watching the road until the very last second.

I’ve read stories about how in the future autonomous vehicles will allow commuters to work on their computers or smartphones on the way to and from work, which I just can’t fathom, from the standpoint that the driver is letting a computer do all of the thinking, including making judgment decisions.

I think not.