Hyperdrive
The Uber Crash Is the Nightmare the Driverless World Feared But Expected
- Pedestrian death comes at critical juncture for industry
- Waymo planning commercial fleet with no safety drivers in AZ
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Last week, Waymo showed a video of people riding in its self-driving minivans. They thumbed their phones, yawned and one snoozed. The message: Driverless cars are so safe, they’re boring. The clip was meant to drum up support for a fully driverless taxi service it plans in Phoenix later this year.
Now, a tragedy may slow the Alphabet Inc. unit’s efforts, and the broader industry march toward commercialization of this technology. A self-driving test car from Uber Technologies Inc. hit and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, near Phoenix, late Sunday, prompting investigations by regulators and a backlash from some consumer-safety advocates.