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Why Autopilot Cars Should Be Required To Pass Driving Tests

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Every state in the union requires motorists to pass a battery of tests in order to be licensed, so why not self-driving vehicles? That’s a notion recently discussed in a white paper written by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute.

Just as with human motorists, whose eyesight, knowledge of the rules of the road, psychomotor skills and driving experience will vary, so too can we expect the performance of autonomous vehicles to differ from one model to another. Already, Autoblog reports the Tesla Model S’s new autopilot software has caused its owner to be issued a citation for speeding in Florida for doing a lead-footed 75 mph in a 60-mph zone.

Specifically, the authors argue that autopilot vehicles could be expected to perform differently depending on their sensing hardware, special maps and software algorithms. At that, Sivak and Schoettle say self-driving vehicles should have no problems passing even the strictest visual-acuity test on a clear day. However, just as humans’ visual acumen varies, road-monitoring cameras and sensors might perform better or worse under rainy or snowy conditions, depending on the model. To that end the report quotes a Google spokesperson as admitting the company “doesn’t intend to offer a self-driving car to areas where it snows in the near term.” Potential problems could likewise arise regarding the sensors’ visual pattern recognition, which the authors say is a skill at which human drivers excel, but one that’s difficult for computers to master.

While self-driving cars can be expected to come fully programmed to obey traffic laws, there’s the possibility they might adhere to the regulations a tad too strictly for their own good. For example it would be perilous for a self-driving car to merge onto a highway while steadfastly adhering to the posted speed limit if prevailing traffic is whizzing by at a faster pace.

Autopilot cars are further likely to face ethical dilemmas in emergencies and may be forced to choose which of two or more perilous courses to pursue in a split second. For example, would it be best to brake but ultimately slam into an obstruction and risk injury or worse to the car’s occupants, swerve in one direction to avoid a crash and possibly veer into oncoming traffic or steer in the other direction and perhaps run over a pedestrian standing at curbside?.

The authors conclude that, at best, the technology driving autopilot cars is still not perfect, and could be expected to perform differently than others under certain circumstances, whether by design or default. A given car’s self-driving acumen could be better or worse during the day or nighttime hours, over smooth or broken pavement or under perfect versus rainy or snowy conditions.

Sivak and Schoettle certainly make a strong case for rigorous testing and licensing of autonomous cars--albeit according to a series of still-to-be-written standards--but if it does in fact come to pass two things are certain: Like human motorists, autonomous cars will be subject to an intolerably long wait at the local DMV office, and their driver’s license pictures will look nothing like them.

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