Arizona Uber Incident Will Affect Local Autonomous Vehicle Industry

Last August, Domino’s Pizza deployed a Ford Fusion Hybrid on the streets of Ann Arbor in partnership with Ford Motor Company. It had the goal of “gauging customer reactions to self-driving delivery vehicles.” [1]

Based on reports from subsequent appearance of that same car at the North American International Auto Show just two months ago, consumer reaction was one of “wariness.” [2]

Elsewhere in the autonomous vehicle industry, the public was given reason for greater concern last Sunday. A Volvo XC90 self-driven Uber car struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona that evening. A “human safety driver” was behind the wheel of the SUV. [3,4,5]

The experimental Ford Fusion used in the Domino’s testing was not used in self-driving mode for that initiative. As Domino’s Public Relations Director Jenny Fouracre explained to Saline Journal this week, “we are purely interested in studying the interaction with the customer interface system, not the self-driving capabilities of the vehicle.”

Ironically, stakeholders in the autonomous vehicle industry itself participated in the Automotive Megatrends Autonomous Car Detroit conference just last week.

As part of the opening panel discussion on “The path to level 5 autonomy,” University of Michigan Mcity Director Huei Peng identified securing “consumer trust” as a high priority for this industry. He also advised of the need to prepare for a shift in accident liability considerations “from consumer to equipment.” [6,7,8]

Washtenaw County plays an increasingly important role in the autonomous vehicle industry. In addition to Ford and Mcity initiatives, micro-mobility shuttle manufacturer May Mobility is based in Ann Arbor and France-headquartered NAVYA has a manufacturing facility right here in Saline. [9,10,11,12]

What does the Uber incident mean for this industry?

“As with any sector, human error is a possibility,” Nicolas De Crémiers told Saline Journal. Mr De Crémiers is head of corporate marketing for NAVYA.

It is crucial that we, as suppliers of autonomous mobility solutions, come together with communities and municipalities to begin taking steps towards creating safety standards and comprehensive measures for the upcoming ‘Autonomous Vehicle Era’ in smart cities.

Presently, twenty-one states have passed legislation in some form related to autonomous vehicles. Michigan is among them. Public Act 332 was enacted on December 9, 2016, and that provides for the operation of this technology without a human driver in the vehicle. [13,14]

It’s now more likely that number of states will increase, along with pointed regulation of some sort at the federal level. Up to now, municipalities have taken a “lighter touch” to scruitiny of industry needs for testing on public roadways; that too may change. [15]

One seemingly certain reality of the Arizona tragedy is that consumer trust is going to be that much harder to earn.

References

1. “Self-driving car to start delivering pizza in Domino’s deal with Ford” Jessica Haynes (August 29, 2017) mLive.
2. “Concerned about self-driving cars? You’re not alone” Eric D Lawrence (January 26, 2018) Detroit Free Press.
3. “Uber Halts Autonomous-Car Testing After Fatal Arizona Crash” Mark Bergen and Eric Newcomer (March 19, 2018) Bloomberg Technology.
4. “How a Self-Driving Uber Killed a Pedestrian in Arizona” Troy Griggs and Daisuke Wakabayashi (March 20, 2018) The New York Times.
5. “Tempe police chief: Fatal Uber crash likely ‘unavoidable’ for any kind of driver” Uriel J Garcia and Karina Bland (March 20, 2018) The Republic.
6. “Autonomous Car Detroit” (March 14, 2018) Automotive Megatrends.
7. “Autonomous Vehicles Promise to Solve Downtown Parking Problems” Dell Deaton (March 19, 2018) Saline Journal.
8. “Path to Autonomy: Self-Driving Car Levels 0 to 5 Explained – Just what does ‘Level 5 autonomous car’ mean?” (October 2017) Car and Driver.
9. “Mcity” University of Michigan.
10. May Mobility (home page).
11. NAVYA (home page).
12. “NAVYA Premiered Its Self-Driving Shuttle at NAIAS Earlier This Year” Dell Deaton (February 5, 2018) Saline Journal.
13. “Autonomous Vehicles / Self-Driving Vehicles Enacted Legislation” (March 12, 2018) National Conference of State Legislatures.
14. “Senate Bill 0995 (2016)” Michigan Legislature.
15. “Safety Advocates Urge Congress to Go Slow on Driverless Cars” Ryan Beene (June 27, 2017) Bloomberg Politics.