I agree with all you've said.
One of my concerns with self-driving systems is that they don't have a good model of the world they are operating in. Yes, sure, they build up 3-D models using multiple sensor types, and react to that accordingly, oftentimes with faster reflexes than a human.
However, consider this situation with pedestrians A and B, while driving down a street, approaching an intersection.
Pedestrian A, on the edge of the sidewalk, is faced away from the street, looking at his phone. The chances of him suddenly stepping out in front of my car are exactly 0.0%.
Pedestrian B, on the edge of the sidewalk, is leaning slightly towards the street, and is looking anxiously down the street (the wrong way). The chances of B suddenly stepping out is high, and the chances of B not seeing my car are very high (because B is being stupid/careless, or else is used to UK traffic patterns).
I, as a human, will react to those situations differently, preemptively slowing down if I recognize a situation like with Pedestrian B. Autonomous driving systems will treat both situations exactly the same.
From everything I've read about so far, current driving systems have no way of distinguishing between those two specific situations, or dealing with the myriad of other similar issues that can occur on our streets.
One of my concerns with self-driving systems is that they don't have a good model of the world they are operating in. Yes, sure, they build up 3-D models using multiple sensor types, and react to that accordingly, oftentimes with faster reflexes than a human.
However, consider this situation with pedestrians A and B, while driving down a street, approaching an intersection.
Pedestrian A, on the edge of the sidewalk, is faced away from the street, looking at his phone. The chances of him suddenly stepping out in front of my car are exactly 0.0%.
Pedestrian B, on the edge of the sidewalk, is leaning slightly towards the street, and is looking anxiously down the street (the wrong way). The chances of B suddenly stepping out is high, and the chances of B not seeing my car are very high (because B is being stupid/careless, or else is used to UK traffic patterns).
I, as a human, will react to those situations differently, preemptively slowing down if I recognize a situation like with Pedestrian B. Autonomous driving systems will treat both situations exactly the same.
From everything I've read about so far, current driving systems have no way of distinguishing between those two specific situations, or dealing with the myriad of other similar issues that can occur on our streets.