Too often, I’ve read documents or listened to panel sessions that rehash misleading or just plain incorrect industry talking points regarding autonomous vehicle standards and regulations. The current industry strategy seems to boil down to “Trust us, we know what’s best,” “Don’t stifle innovation,” and “Humans are bad drivers, so computers will be better.”
As far as I can tell, what’s really going on is that automated-vehicle companies are saying what they say both to avoid being regulated and to avoid having to follow their own industry safety standards. That strategy has not yielded long-term safety in other industries that have tried it, however, and I predict that in the long term it will not serve the automotive industry well either. It certainly does not encourage trust.
