This assessment of the state of play is very uneven. For example, the assertion made by Meredith Broussard quoted in the article "It’s also not true that we must transition to self-driving cars because human-piloted ones are so lethal" is a truism. The article goes on to say "Countless innovations have made cars radically safer since the 1950s and continue to do so."
Yet vehicles remain as lethal as dread diseases, mostly down to the humans piloting them. Just cutting that number of deaths and injuries significantly would be a boon similar to eradicating malaria.
I expect the flourishing of autonomous vehicles to be sudden and unanticipated. Just as you can't tell unless you are looking for the decals or attuned to why back seats are suddenly more populated you might miss the fact there are two million ride share drivers in the US now. One day we will realize the wait for a bus is much shorter because busses are right-sized and more frequent and can surge where they are needed because drivers aren't a bottleneck and routes are dynamic.
Yet vehicles remain as lethal as dread diseases, mostly down to the humans piloting them. Just cutting that number of deaths and injuries significantly would be a boon similar to eradicating malaria.
I expect the flourishing of autonomous vehicles to be sudden and unanticipated. Just as you can't tell unless you are looking for the decals or attuned to why back seats are suddenly more populated you might miss the fact there are two million ride share drivers in the US now. One day we will realize the wait for a bus is much shorter because busses are right-sized and more frequent and can surge where they are needed because drivers aren't a bottleneck and routes are dynamic.