Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit organization advocating for consumers and taxpayers, called for a national moratorium on autonomous vehicle testing shortly after the first fatality associated with the technology was reported in Tempe, Arizona earlier this week. The consumer group questioned whether the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was utilizing recently released data showing that robot car technology was not ready for use on public roads.
Specifically, Consumer Watchdog cites key data gained from autonomous vehicle testing that revealed “robot cars cannot go more than 5,596 miles in the best-case scenario without a human test driver taking over the wheel. In most cases, the vehicles cannot travel more than a few hundred miles without needing human intervention”, according to Consumer Watchdog’s recent statement.
That supporting data came from “disengagement reports” which must be filed by companies that have been given permission to test autonomous vehicles in California, detailing when a test driver had to intervene while driving. Twenty filed disengagement reports were reviewed.
Consumer Watchdog continues to voice concern over the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and human driven vehicles which was strengthened by the pedestrian fatality in Tempe, Arizona. They also question the California DMV in giving robot cars the go head for testing next month without a human driver ready to take control.
“There should be a national moratorium on all robot car testing on public roads until the complete details of this tragedy [Tempe} are made public and are analyzed by outside experts so we understand what went so terribly wrong,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy and Technology Project Director.
Consumer Watchdog also expressed concern that the NHTSA is considering further deregulation of autonomous vehicles.
“NHTSA wants to appease robot car manufacturing corporations by skipping crucial steps for public safety so that robot cars can hit the market as fast as possible,” said Sahiba Sindhu, a consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog. “We simply don’t know enough robot cars yet to know what kinds of safety features and technologies they require.”
