General Motors’ driverless Cruise taxis can no longer operate on California roads without a safety driver, effective immediately.
General Motors’ driverless Cruise taxis can no longer operate on California roads without a safety driver, effective immediately.
In ideal conditions they are. In less than ideal, they lack the flexibility required to adapt to a situation. Cruise in particular got caught blocking traffic for no good reason preventing emergency vehicles access.
The best an automated vehicle will do when unsure is stop. A human at least could listen to direction from a person of authority, even if those directions are counter to the rules (e.g. turn around in a one way street). It’s like a reverse Asimov’s law of robotics.
I am just remembering when I was still on a learners permit. There was an accident in front of me and a cop instructed me to make what would normally be an illegal turn. I was 16 and remembered the rule “instructions from a police officer overrule any road rule”. So I made the turn.