Couldn't be any worse than some of the local drivers in Mountain View. The sooner we can get cars out of the hands of humans, the better.

People in the past have commented about how they would "spook" one of the Google/Waymo cars by pretending to dart out into the street. See how it would react! Based on the traffic recent fatality - MV residents would do a great service to the rest of humanity, by 'spoofing' these robots on a regular basis.

Asimov's First Law
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Web Link

Technology to appeal to those who are too insecure or incompetent to control their own destiny. Pretty much a mechanical nanny.

Sure, when I can no longer safely drive I will take advantage of autonomous vehicles for the sake of mobility, but until that dark day arrives I shall resist being relegated to the role of a mere passenger. I fear for the future of humanity when so many people are eager to relegate decision making to machines.

- John from http://www.insurancepanda.com

That attitude is why there are over 30,000 automotive-related accidents every year. "I'm a good driver; everyone else is the problem!" -- No, you're an imperfect, easily-distracted human who thinks they're a better driver than they actually are. Just like I am, just like everyone else is.

The sooner we accept our limitations as humans and allow technology to help us make the world safer, they sooner we can prevent needless tragedy by the thousands.

(Of course, the technology has to get WAY better before then, but that's happening!)

There aren't over 30,000 automotive-related accidents every year. There are over 30,000 automotive-related *fatalities* every year. And that's just in the U.S. Globally that number is WELL over 1 million, approaching 1.5 million.

It will be many years from now (a generational attitude change?), but when all vehicles are automatically driven, with all nearby vehicles in constant contact with each other, vehicle collisions will be exceedingly rare. It will still be a challenge to prevent pedestrians and cyclists from darting in front of automatic vehicles. Perhaps everyone will carry a Fitbit-sized transponder to provide early warning of sudden moves.

Imagine all vehicles smoothly moving at the limit, no slowpoke holding everyone else up.

I for one welcome our self-driving car overlords.

I live near the Waymo building. My only complaint is that the self driving cars are SLLLLLOOOOOWWWW. They actually look all ways before proceeding into an intersection. How stupid is that?

I think it is imperative that we know whether or not there is an occupant to these cars in the case of an accident. How do we know if there is a fiery crash (like the recent Tesla crash) whether we should risk our lives to rescue a non-existent occupant?

I don’t think it’s right to test the Waymo on public roads before Google can assure its quality and functionality. I don’t like to be a free guinea pig for a big corporation.

@Sophie

It's a bit late for that. They've been on the road for 10 years now.

WHEN exactly Waymo started running self-driving cars is irrelevant to Sophie's point above: wanting assurance of quality and functionality rather than to be guinea pig for the interests of a private firm.

When Elaine Herzberg was killed in Arizona recently by a self-driving Uber car, there was even a "human safety backup driver" inside and it didn't save her. Albeit the "human safety backup driver" failed to do the job, such as paying attention to the road, which might well have saved Herzberg ("The driver-facing video shows the safety driver was looking down prior to the collision" -- Wikipedia). At least that driver can be properly prosecuted for manslaughter. How do you hold a large corporation accountable in the event that its self-driving cars also kill pedestrians?

I wonder how many accidents have been prevented and lives saved by our fleets of driver-less cars.
It's interesting to ponder since so few accidents have occurred compared to "driven" cars.

Given what we know now as fact regarding safety, we should be screaming that they still let driven cars on the roads. THAT'S where the accidents and death are happening, right this very second.

The proof of Waymo cars’ safety is already in the statistics. How many more years of bad drivers’ killing others must we endure? Apparently a few. Of course Waymo will be held responsible when their cars cause a collision.

Interesting that someone brings up the Uber accident that killed a pedestrian with a bike. Expecting the unexpected is something that human drivers have difficulty with. I have watched that dashcam video many times and I am not sure if I could have avoided hitting the pedestrian who does indeed appear out of nowhere. Swerving and braking takes time.

However, the interesting thing about that accident is that as humans we depend on our eyesight and lights, but the Uber car should not have been hindered by the fact that it was dark. The radar, lasers and sensors work on technology other than sight. Waymo indicated that their technology would have avoided the collision as its technology is different to Uber.

The people who object to this most vociferously and disproportionately are often those not following the latest developments. They read about the recent fatal accident with Tesla and consider they’re now an expert.

There will always be people who don’t accept self driving cars even if we can statistically show they’re safer. Everyone gets a vote but all options are not equally well informed.

It was probably the same thing when elevators didn’t need an attendant to operate them. Theirs people had grandparents who were saying, I don’t want this!

Is Wayno paying Mountain View to use our tax payer funded public streets as their test course? What is in it for residents besides getting more cars on our streets to clog up traffic?

This is new and different so I'm against it, regardless of the fact that they are infinitely safer than cars with drivers in them. I just need a different argument to create other than safety since that one has been lost already.