Driverless cars have a long way to go, transportation experts says

AUSTIN, Texas – Self-driving cars have hit the streets in Austin, but residents are concerned about a video showing one vehicle driving in the bike lane.

Driverless cars aren’t always accurate. In a video, a Cruise car in West Campus is seen making a left turn, but it doesn’t go into the left lane, it turns into the right and into the bike lane. In another video, a Cruise car is seen driving down the middle of the road.

“That just seems so reckless for them to be allowing cars that can make not small mistakes, but egregious mistakes missing a lane by 16 feet. You know, that just seems egregious out on the streets,” Bicyclist Robert Foster said.

Cruise said, “Safety is Cruise’s top priority, not just for our passengers but for everyone we share the road with. Our technology is always improving, and we’ll be reviewing our lane-mapping in that area.” 

Transportation contributing writer for The Verge, and the former Editor-in-Chief of Jalopnik Patrick George said these instances show how much further technology needs to progress before more driverless cars are on the streets.

“After 10 years and $100 billion invested across the board, a lot of these companies just don’t have a lot to show for this technology yet, a lot of car companies and startups saying look, this is not right around the corner, you’re not going to give up your car keys in five years,” George said.

Cruise’s safety record shows more than 750,000 fully autonomous miles driven with zero life-threatening injuries or deaths. Cruise said the self-driving technology has the potential to save millions of lives, reshape cities, reduce emissions, and increase travel.

“It’s going to take years if not decades to get this technology to be on the level of what a human operator, human brain can do,” George said.