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Additionally, permitting a test plan that prominently involved requiring all operators to break the law by operating a computer when they were supposed to be ke

Additionally, permitting a test plan that prominently involved requiring all operators to break the law by operating a computer when they were supposed to be keeping their eyes on the road is quite reckless on the part of the State of Arizona. I really don't think we should be so eager to damn Uber that we forget that there were more than just Uber employees asleep at the wheel here: Arizona has a duty to protect public safety. By permitting a self-driving car test program on the public roadways without doing even basic due diligence in vetting the program first, the State was grossly negligent in that duty.

heymijo 7y ago
> there were more than just Uber employees asleep at the wheel here You couldn't be more right. The zeitgeist in 2015 was full-steam ahead on the autonomous future and woe to anything that stood in its way. The framing of Arizona's embrace of autonomous testing four years ago [0,1] contrasted with California's caution [2,3,4] couldn't have been starker. One was branded enabling innovation, the other was seen as bureaucratic red tape holding up progress. It's too easy to get wrapped up in these narratives. [0] https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2015/08/governor-doug-ducey-announces-new-partnership-uber-university-arizona https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2015/08/governor-doug-d... [1] https://www.uber.com/blog/tucson/driving-innovation-in-arizona/ https://www.uber.com/blog/tucson/driving-innovation-in-arizo... [2] https://fortune.com/2015/12/16/google-california-rules-self-driving-cars/ https://fortune.com/2015/12/16/google-california-rules-self-... [3] https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10325672/california-dmv-regulations-autonomous-car https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10325672/california-dmv-... [4] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/technology/california-dmv-stops-short-of-fully-embracing-driverless-cars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/technology/california-dmv...

heymijo 7y ago

> there were more than just Uber employees asleep at the wheel here You couldn't be more right. The zeitgeist in 2015 was full-steam ahead on the autonomous future and woe to anything that stood in its way. The framing of Arizona's embrace of autonomous testing four years ago [0,1] contrasted with California's caution [2,3,4] couldn't have been starker. One was branded enabling innovation, the other was seen as bureaucratic red tape holding up progress. It's too easy to get wrapped up in these narratives. [0] https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2015/08/governor-doug-ducey-announces-new-partnership-uber-university-arizona https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2015/08/governor-doug-d... [1] https://www.uber.com/blog/tucson/driving-innovation-in-arizona/ https://www.uber.com/blog/tucson/driving-innovation-in-arizo... [2] https://fortune.com/2015/12/16/google-california-rules-self-driving-cars/ https://fortune.com/2015/12/16/google-california-rules-self-... [3] https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10325672/california-dmv-regulations-autonomous-car https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/16/10325672/california-dmv-... [4] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/technology/california-dmv-stops-short-of-fully-embracing-driverless-cars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/17/technology/california-dmv...