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Why driverless vehicles just can’t quit humans
Regulators need to ask more questions about the people in the shadows.
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In China, Baidu’s robotaxis launched with “remote human operators” who could take control of the cars if necessary.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Sarah O'Connor
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“There’s nobody in the truck,” Mr Sterling Anderson, co-founder of autonomous truck company Aurora, said in a podcast interview in 2024. “We’re not Wizard of Oz-ing this thing.”
Mr Anderson was referring to the company’s plans to begin a commercial delivery service using driverless trucks between Dallas and Houston in Texas. What he meant, I think, was this: Our technology is not a parlour trick. Unlike in The Wizard of Oz, there won’t be a human hidden behind the curtain.
