People are scared of not being in control. That’s partly why so many of us are more scared of flying than of driving: we’re not the one flying the plane. Even though the drive to the airport is actually more dangerous than the flight, it feels safer, because we’re in control.
So it’s probably not surprising that, as I reported this week, the public is wary about autonomous vehicles (AVs), also known as self-driving cars. A study by British researchers found that more than half of people were uncomfortable with either using them or sharing a road with them.
It’s understandable. And, until recently, it would have been perfectly rational. AI has been making great progress in recent years – facial recognition was cutting-edge work 10 years ago; now you probably have a novelty app on your phone that does it. But autonomous driving has been difficult, because it involves so many complex things. Most notably, predicting the behaviour of all the other road users. Until recently, AVs have struggled to reach even the safety levels of the average human driver.
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