A Bum Steer

There’s an interesting evolution of thought that happens as you drive alongside the autonomous vehicles that are now everywhere in San Francisco. The first few times it happens, you almost can’t believe that the technology you’ve been hearing about for years, a car with no driver, is actually in use on the public roads. That sensation is quickly followed by this thought: I can’t believe I’m risking my life driving around with a bunch of car-sized robots. But after a few more experiences with an increasing number of Waymos on the road, another thought enters your mind: I can’t believe I’ve spent my entire adult life risking my life driving around with a bunch of imbecilic humans, who I know, from block-by-block experience, are terrible drivers. Of course, no one thinks of themself as a terrible driver, which is why the thought that really sticks is: The world would be a better place if the roads consisted of all Waymos and one human driver: Me. Eventually, we’ll all be backseat drivers. And that’s probably for the best. Yes, there are snafus. And, yes, there will be accidents and deaths. But not in the numbers caused by humans. Jonathan Slotkin isn’t a tech bro or a car salesman. He’s a neurosurgeon who sees daily reminders “of the staggering amount of suffering and loss of human life we accept from car accidents every single day.” NYT (Gift Article): The Data on Self-Driving Cars Is Clear. We Have to Change Course. “In medical research, there’s a practice of ending a study early when the results are too striking to ignore. We stop when there is unexpected harm. We also stop for overwhelming benefit, when a treatment is working so well that it would be unethical to continue giving anyone a placebo. When an intervention works this clearly, you change what you do. There’s a public health imperative to quickly expand the adoption of autonomous vehicles. More than 39,000 Americans died in motor vehicle crashes last year, more than homicide, plane crashes and natural disasters combined. Crashes are the No. 2 cause of death for children and young adults. But death is only part of the story. These crashes are also the leading cause of spinal cord injury. We surgeons see the aftermath of the 10,000 crash victims that come to emergency rooms every day. The combined economic and quality-of-life toll exceeds $1 trillion annually, more than the entire U.S. military or Medicare budget … It’s time to stop treating this like a tech moonshot and start treating it like a public health intervention.” (We were promised flying cars. For now, we’ll have to settle for terrestrial vehicles that don’t smash into each other.)