Here’s a quick question, how far would would one have to drive (on average) before one would have a fatal car accident? Answer out loud to yourself before you look it up.

The dirty secret in the autonomous industry is that humans are actually incredibly safe....

.... Most humans in a matter of a few hours can operate any multi-ton vehicle in most weather anywhere in the world, and as road conditions change humans instantaneously adapt control response and safety protocols....

.... Humans dynamically interact with totally never before seen objects and situations. They regularly fall asleep while going over the speed limit, and regularly drive drunk, and still manage to avoid crashes with sub-second steering and brake responses....

.... Also realize that there is a difference between how far one has to drive before there is a slight accident versus a fatality (which is more?). So, what is the number of miles or km would one human need to drive before a fatality on average?....

.... say it out loud. Understand that on average people drive about 10,000 miles a year. What is your answer? ....

.... The answer, and this includes teenagers and drunk drivers and people texting, is about 100 MILLION miles. A bit less or more in different companies or decades, but about that. I’ve talked to Waymo engineers who didn’t realize this the first many years they worked on this....

.... and when you work on something without realizing how hard the problem is you don’t necessarily work on it from the best long term perspective.

My book that covers autonomous vehicle safety and much more in-depth: https://gumroad.com/l/KBBhm 

It also covers changes needed in regulations and what governments can do to foster innovation and also keep the public safer.