Re: AV's Hindenburg?
It is not really about the absolute level of safety that will determine the future of autonomous vehicles, but the public perception. And thanks to a news media that lingers on every accident they have, that perception is increasingly negative.
It's easy to blame the media, but both Tesla and Uber currently seem to have issues which make their vehicles unsafe by any standard.
It's important to note that Tesla is not meant to be an autonomous vehicle, but even taking that into account, there have been three or four incidents where the vehicle did not detect large solid obstructions in its path, and did not brake or take avoiding action.
And as for Uber, the vehicle failed to detect or react to a pedestrian pushing a bicycle who was in clear sight for hundreds of yards before the collision.
Whilst ever autonomous vehicles share the road with non-autonomous vehicles, there will be accidents, this is accepted. What's not acceptable is when the accidents are of such a nature that they would not have occurred if the vehicle was being driven by a normally competent human in the same circumstances.