Read any business newspaper these days and you’ll eventually see a report about which company might be “winning” the race to make vehicles fully autonomous. The winners of this race stand to gain quite a bit. According to Bloomberg, Google’s Alphabet, Inc. remains in the lead, but other companies seem right on its tail. Yet, Bloomberg also reports that two of the leading autonomous vehicle technology companies have also faced scrutiny due to accidents involving their technologies. Tesla and Uber have both seen deadly accidents in which the technology either failed, or was misused, or failed as a result of both misuse or failure. The financial gains companies stand to earn if they can bring the technology to the road is so great, that these casualties are sometimes treated as bumps on the road to success.
The future ahead looks like one in which driverless taxis take us to the destinations we want to visit. While the technology might be best adapted to city travel, Bloomberg is quick to caution that the technology remains more expensive than typical human-driven cars. The technology still has a long way to go before we see a fully-autonomous world.
Yet, the race to autonomy is fast and some critics believe that the companies may be putting the cars on the road too soon, long before major issues have been worked out and long before they are safe to do so. According to the New York Times, after the highly-publicized pedestrian death in Arizona, Uber has considered selling its self-driving car division.
Bloomberg reports that just this year, Alphabet’s self-driving cars will begin offering pick-up service for passengers in Phoenix, Arizona. According to Bloomberg, the company has shown the best results when it comes to the low failure rates of its vehicles.
Some supporters of driverless technology claim that accidents are inevitable, especially if driverless cars share the road with human-driven vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Many believe that the mix of autonomous vehicles and self-driving vehicles can pose the greatest risks because autonomous vehicles are not always able to judge the unpredictable actions of humans. Self-driving cars generally perform better in predictable situations, or in clear-cut situations involving following traffic law. Roundabouts have proven problematic as have situations where lines on the road disappear.
At the end of the day, the push to put self-driving cars on the road isn’t likely to end anytime soon. Fortunately, the law still offers protections to individuals who have been injured in self-driving car accidents. If you have been hurt, visit the personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Robert Gregg in Dallas, Texas to protect your rights. Our firm works with victims and their families, helping them to seek the damages they may be entitled to receive under the law.