Edge cases are important
Autonomous driving supporters will dismiss situations like this as “edge cases,” situations that occur so infrequently that the harm of messing one up is minimal. As of this writing, though, approximately ten victims of the Austin shooting are still hospitalized — two of whom are in critical condition. That doesn’t count the one who died in the hospital just two days ago. In medical care, immediacy is critical, and this Waymo blocking EMS from reaching victims in a timely manner may well have a body count. Waymo, for its part, refused to provide a statement to media.
Waymo’s cars are often safer than human drivers in standard day-to-day driving, but they still get confused and freeze up when confronted with unpredictable situations. Reducing road deaths is a noble effort, but this simply isn’t the way to go about it. Give us bike lanes, buses, trains, give us ways to get around that don’t involve direct conflict with cars — don’t just automate the cars in hopes they’ll make fewer mistakes (and make you, autonomy CEOs and shareholders, more money).
