Bad Timing: Uber Incident Raises Fears Ahead of Autonomous Vehicle Approval Decision

The death of a woman in Arizona after being struck by an Uber self-driving car, marking the first such incident, is a situation that the autonomous vehicle industry has long feared, occurring at an inconvenient time.

The accident caused by an Uber vehicle on Monday is the first significant test of public and legislative reaction to this new technology. The incident occurred at a time when automakers are seeking legal approval to offer transportation services with autonomous vehicles as early as next year.

>>>Uber’s self-driving car killed a pedestrian

Uber and Alphabet’s Waymo (the autonomous vehicle transportation company) wrote to U.S. senators on Friday urging them to adopt comprehensive legislation on autonomous cars “in the coming weeks.”

Automakers and technology companies such as Uber, General Motors, and Toyota have invested significant money that depends on successful revisions of existing vehicle safety regulations written under the assumption that a licensed human driver will always be behind the wheel.

Their representatives warn that accidents and fatalities involving autonomous vehicles are possible, but countless lives will be saved when robotic systems programmed to obey traffic rules take over vehicles from distracted, drowsy, or incapacitated drivers.

Mark Rosenker: The public should not overreact to the incident

Mark Rosenker, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said on Monday that the public should not overreact to the Uber incident. He emphasized that 6,000 pedestrians and nearly 40,000 people die each year on American roads in over six million collisions.

– This will be a sad hurdle we will have to overcome to restore public faith that these vehicles are safe, Rosenker said.

>>>VIDEO: Apple received permission to test autonomous vehicles

The incident prompted Uber to suspend all autonomous vehicle testing.

The consequence of this accident could be a new delay in the adoption or changes to an important bill in Congress aimed at accelerating the testing of autonomous vehicles, which has already stalled due to objections from a group of Democrats over safety concerns.

A long road to vehicle safety

Senator John Thune, a Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, said that this “tragedy underscores the need for laws and policies appropriate for autonomous vehicles.”

However, two Democratic senators on that committee, Ed Markey from Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut, stated that the Uber incident requires a decisive response.

– This tragic incident means that there is still a long way to go before autonomous vehicle technology is truly safe for passengers, pedestrians, and drivers on American roads, Blumenthal said.

>>>Autonomous buses on the streets of Singapore by 2022

The Trump administration is working to remove regulatory barriers for autonomous vehicles but also emphasizes that it is focused on safety.

– The goal is to create reasonable regulations that do not stifle innovation while ensuring safety, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on March 1. Her spokesperson had no comment on Monday.

Chao is considering a petition from General Motors submitted in January to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requesting an exemption to allow a smaller number of autonomous vehicles to participate in a driverless ride-sharing program.

The International Union of Transportation Workers stated on Monday that the incident shows that “there are significant risks when testing unproven technologies on public roads. It is crucial to protect pedestrians and drivers.”

>>>GM: Taxi drivers are the first to be impacted by autonomous vehicles

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said on Monday that the incident is “a wake-up call for the entire autonomous vehicle industry and the government to prioritize safety.”

In September, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a measure that would allow automakers exemptions from safety regulations requiring human control over the vehicle. The Senate version will allow automakers, within three years, to sell up to 80,000 autonomous vehicles per year each if they prove to regulators that they are as safe as conventional vehicles.

>>>Half of new autonomous vehicle models by 2020 will be ‘born’ in China

Widespread doubts about the safety of autonomous vehicles emerged in July 2016 when a man driving a Tesla Model S in semi-autonomous Autopilot mode was killed in a collision with a truck.

In January 2017, federal safety regulators concluded that Tesla’s Autopilot system was not defective and that the driver was expected to maintain control of the vehicle.