Waymo's collision avoidance testing
I think the problem we have with self-driving cars is more social than technological at this point.<p>Consider the hypothetical: a million self-driving cars on the road that, collectively, will have 1/10th of the fatal accidents that human drivers would have[0]. <i>But</i>, the ones they <i>do</i> have are accidents a human driver would almost certainly have avoided.<p>Is this something we would accept?<p>My guess is that no, we wouldn't. Because the accidents avoided don't make the news, but the accidents that occur- especially ones that you say "my god, how did it screw that up?" will make the news, and our perception would be that they are more dangerous.<p>Until Waymo's cars are better than most humans <i>in every single situation</i>, they won't be able to win over the public perception war.<p>[0]I'm making those numbers up. I acknowledge that. But it's a hypothetical so give me some leeway on this!