California to allow testing of self-driving cars without a driver present
People are excited about self driving cars for their potential to reduce accidents by removing human error from the equation. It's not just human error that causes accidents though.<p>Human emotion in general causes dangerous situations. When we drive now, we're restricted to driving and driving alone. We can listen to the radio but for the most part we are restricted. Because of this, we tend to want to get to our destination as quickly as possible. We drive fast to get the restrictive experience of driving over with.<p>However if we were free to do other things, like get work done or sleep or watch TV while in our cars, I think we would generally be much more tolerant of travelling at a lower speed. While eventually our self driving systems may be capable of being very safe at very high speeds, I think reduced speeds tolerated by people could offer an extra layer of safety.