Opinion

Editorial: Be aware of limits to self-driving cars

Northbound traffic moves slowly along I-95 due to the inclement weather earlier this year in Norwalk. Northbound traffic moves slowly along I-95 due to the inclement weather earlier this year in Norwalk. Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Editorial: Be aware of limits to self-driving cars 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The promise of driverless cars to remake our economy and way of life has been building for years. Imagine a daily commute where instead of stressing your way through a traffic jam, you gaze peacefully out the window. Or imagine a fleet of driverless trucks making the nation’s holiday deliveries, never needing any sleep and removing human error from the equation.

While technology has made incredible leaps, we haven’t reached our autonomous utopia yet. Drivers with advanced autopilot features still need to pay close attention on the road. The penalty for not doing so could be tragedy.

That point was driven home again this weekend when a Tesla in auto-pilot mode hit state police cruiser as the trooper was assisting a disabled car on Interstate 95 in Norwalk. According to police, the driver said he had his vehicle on auto-pilot and was checking on his dog in the back seat. The car continued to travel northbound before being stopped by a second trooper on scene.

Tesla has said many times that its system is designed only to assist drivers, who must still pay attention and be ready to take the wheel at all times. But this is hardly the first instance nationwide of drivers failing to pay necessary attention in auto-pilot mode. In September, a Tesla driver was caught on video sleeping behind the wheel as his car sped down a freeway. And last year, a self-driving Uber hit and killed a pedestrian in Arizona.

It’s worth noting that cars are plenty dangerous regardless of technology. More than 36,000 people died on American roadways last year. Advocates have argued for years that road safety regulations are tilted too far toward drivers and ignore pedestrians, cyclists and other bystanders, putting them at greater risk. And the rise of distracting technologies, both on dashboards and in handheld electronics, poses significant danger.

Whether it’s rear-facing cameras for aid in pulling out of parking spaces or systems that automatically apply the brakes in emergencies, vehicles are adding safety features every year that can remove some of the everyday risks from living in a car-dependent society.

Improving technology is worth celebrating, but people need to be aware of the limits. While there’s no legislating common sense, it would behoove state lawmakers to reinforce through regulation how drivers with autonomous capabilities are expected to behave. The driver in the Norwalk crash, who police did not name, was issued a misdemeanor summons for reckless driving and reckless endangerment, but the penalties could be stiffer.

This is an issue that is only going to grow in prominence. As self-driving features become more common, more people will be tempted to believe they can afford a little distraction on the roads.

For now, oversight of self-driving technology is all over the place. There are federal guidelines, but anything stricter is left to the states. But states have been slow to adopt significant regulations even as more cars with advanced features are on the road every year.

Drivers need to know not to put too much faith in technology, and that the old standards still apply: First and foremost, keep your eyes on the road.