[ad_1]
Daimler chief executive Dieter Zetsche warned that the crash of a Boeing plane last month highlighted the difficulties that autonomous cars would see in the next decade as various groups vie for first place on the road. market.
Boeing's 737 Max aircraft was immobilized around the world after suffering two accidents, raising questions about the dynamics between pilots and sophisticated software designed to improve safety.
The auto sector, fueled in part by tech giants and venture-backed software start-ups, is fighting for the future of autonomous vehicles. But Zetsche warned against a public reaction against technology in the event of a crash.
"Even though autonomous cars are 10 times safer than those driven by humans, it takes a dramatic incident to make it much more difficult to obtain widespread acceptance," Zetsche said Tuesday.
More than 1.2 million people die each year as a result of road accidents. That's more deaths every day in the world than in the September 11 attacks. Proponents of autonomous cars estimate that more than 90% of road deaths are the result of a human error that could theoretically be avoided.
The race to the market to be the first to pose ethical problems with incentives.
Large automotive companies are often reluctant to test autonomous technology in real-life conditions.
Hakan Samuelsson, managing director of Volvo Cars, warned that some groups were "irresponsible" when testing immature systems. "Everyone who works in this sector has this responsibility, because otherwise, you will kill technology that could be the best lifeline in the history of the car," he said.
The issues were highlighted when an autonomous Uber car killed a pedestrian, Elaine Herzberg, Arizona last year, forcing Uber to stop testing for several months.
Martin Daum, general manager of Daimler's trucking division, which last week acquired the self-driven software group Torc Robotics, said in a recent interview that "the biggest question" for autonomous technology was how people would react to car accidents – even once, it is clear that these vehicles are safer than those driven by drivers, although they are not yet completely free of defects.
"We do not know if the public will accept it one day," Daum said.
If, over a period of time, human drivers have killed 400, "it's a little forgiven or considered a real fact," Daum added. "If we wanted to reduce this rate by 90% and make 40 computer errors, that would not be forgiven at the moment."
Source link
