Forget
the
fact
that
most
autonomous
vehicles
operate
each
day
safely,
anonymously,
and
without
fanfare.
There
are
hundreds
in
operation
today
in
California,
Arizona,
Texas,
and
elsewhere,
and
the
numbers
are
only
going
to
increase.
But
when
they
do
make
mistakes,
people
tend
to
notice.
Numerous
public
opinion
polls
have
shown
declining
support
for
autonomous
vehicles
(AV)
over
the
years
and
a
rise
in
outright
hostility
toward
the
technology.
The
autonomous
vehicle
industry’s
main
lobbying
group
—
yes,
of
course
it
has
one
—
is
intent
on
reversing
this
trend
before
it
gets
much
worse.
The
Autonomous
Vehicle
Industry
Association
(AVIA)
represents
Cruise,
Waymo,
Zoox,
Motional,
and
others
as
well
as
the
US
Chamber
of
Commerce
and
the
Alliance
for
Automotive
Innovation,
which
lobbies
for
the
auto
industry.
Today,
it
released
something
it’s
calling
its
“TRUST
Principles,”
which
is
basically
an
action
plan
for
dealing
with
these
negative
headlines
and
spiraling
poll
numbers.
“With
today’s
announcement,
the
AV
industry
is
sending
a
message:
we
believe
that
public
trust
in
autonomous
vehicles
is
essential
to
their
acceptance
and
that
the
AV
industry
must
earn
and
maintain
that
trust,”
Jeff
Farrah,
the
group’s
CEO,
said
in
a
statement.
The
group
is
calling
for
a
number
of
changes
to
the
way
AV
operators
interact
with
the
public,
including
more
community
engagement
and
public
education
efforts
as
well
as
the
creation
of
working
groups
to
address
some
of
the
main
concerns.
For
example,
AVIA
says
it
will
create
a
“national
council
of
law
enforcement
officials,
first
responders,
and
industry
representatives”
to
improve
communication
between
AV
operators
and
emergency
responders.
People
have
grown
increasingly
unnerved
by
the
prospect
of
self-driving
cars
taking
over
the
streets
thanks
to
a
lack
of
urgency
in
the
industry
toward
building
public
trust.
A
lot
of
operators
assumed
that
people
would
be
thrilled
by
the
futuristic
concept
of
human-free
driving
and
the
promise
of
earning
back
lost
time
to
driving,
and
that
trust
could
come
later.
But
several
recent
incidents
have
thrown
that
assumption
into
stark
relief.
“We
believe
that
public
trust
in
autonomous
vehicles
is
essential
to
their
acceptance”
Last
October,
a
driverless
Cruise
vehicle
struck
a
pedestrian
in
San
Francisco
and
then
caused
further
injury
by
attempting
to
pull
over
to
the
curb
with
her
still
trapped
underneath.
California
regulators
accused
Cruise,
which
is
backed
by
GM,
of
withholding
video
footage
showing
the
incident
and
suspended
its
operating
license.
The
company
has
recently
said
it
will
redeploy
vehicles
in
Texas
— but
only
those
that
are
manually
driven
with
safety
workers.
There
have
also
been
numerous
incidents
of
driverless
Waymo
and
Cruise
vehicles
blocking
intersections,
obstructing
emergency
vehicles,
or
generally
causing
chaos
in
the
streets.
In
February,
a
driverless
Waymo
vehicle
was
vandalized
and
ultimately
set
on
fire
by
a
crowd
of
revelers
in
San
Francisco’s
Chinatown.
Photo
by
Mario
Tama
/
Getty
Images
Photo
by
Mario
Tama
/
Getty
Images
Running
parallel
to
all
of
this
is
Tesla
and
the
company’s
ongoing
efforts
to
deploy
its
Full
Self-Driving
(FSD)
driver-assist
system.
Tesla
vehicles
with
FSD
are
not
autonomous
in
the
way
that
Waymo
and
Cruise
vehicles
are;
they
still
require
a
human
driver
to
pay
attention
to
the
road
at
all
times
during
operation.
But
to
most
people,
it’s
a
distinction
without
a
difference.
When
a
Tesla
vehicle
is
captured
behaving
erratically
or
when
there’s
a
crash
causing
injuries
or
fatalities,
many
people
tend
to
blame
all
autonomous
vehicles
—
despite
the
absence
of
any
real
autonomous
Teslas
on
the
road.
Tesla
is
not
a
member
of
AVIA,
and
the
group
often
goes
out
of
its
way
to
draw
a
distinction
between
its
members
and
driver-assist
systems
like
Tesla’s
FSD.
But
Elon
Musk
has
said
he
plans
to
unveil
a
robotaxi
later
this
year,
which
is
sure
to
further
muddy
the
waters
of
the
public’s
perceptions
of
autonomous
vehicles.
Which
is
to
say,
AVIA
is
likely
going
to
have
a
lot
of
work
still
to
come
if
it
wants
to
reverse
the
trend
of
declining
public
trust.
Moreover,
any
effort
to
build
and
sustain
public
trust
in
autonomous
vehicles
needs
to
reckon
with
the
way
they
are
currently
perceived
—
not
with
how
the
AV
operators
and
its
lobbyists
may
want
them
to
be
perceived.
Original author: Andrew J. Hawkins
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