Self-Driving Cars Case Study

In March 2018, one of Uber's self-driving cars struck and killed an Arizona pedestrian. Uber reacted to the March incident by suspending the trial phase of their self-driving cars. Uber now plans to monitors drivers to make sure they are paying attention, have two human drivers that can manually operate the self-driving car, and have the car’s automatic braking system active at all times.

Uber and self-driving cars rightfully received a lot of criticism after the fatal accident back in March 2018.

However, it is important to remember whenever a new technology is released, it is not going to perform perfectly. After any technology is released, there is usually a strict testing phase. Uber may have also been a little overconfident in their product while testing. In my opinion, Uber should have been monitoring their drivers live before the accident happened. Nonetheless, Uber has become more cautious about their technology and has made the necessary changes to start testing again.

Often when I talk to people about self-driving cars they simply do not like the idea of them. I believe part of this is due to fact humans tend to not like change, or even the idea of change. Growing up, I remember Gen Xs always complaining how millennials were addicted to cells phones. While these complaints were justified, as time went on, Gen Xs realized how invaluable the cell phones are. Almost every adult in America owns a smartphone which has replaced their GPS, alarm clock, camera, calculator, etc.

Autonomous cars are in its testing phase and deserve plenty of criticism when they fail. Self-driving cars will be safer than human drivers as technology advances and further testing is completed. People against autonomous cars will often point to one outlier incident where a self-driving car failed. However, it is important to remember humans are not good drivers either. We are constantly playing with the radio, answering calls, and taking our eyes off the road. Even when self-driving cars are safer than human drivers, people will resist them. This resentment will fade once people experience the value of self-driving cars.

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