Despite lofty promises from some quarters, self-driving cars don’t self-drive quite yet. While my Polestar is fantastic at keeping between the lines on its own, it also is quick to remind me to grab the wheel if it senses that my hand isn’t connected to the wheel.
And while there are driverless cars navigating streets in some pockets of the country, just because there is no driver doesn’t mean that a human isn’t watching. Companies such as Zoox – which has driverless cars on the road in cities such as Las Vegas – have humans connected remotely to the car, so if challenges arise and the car doesn’t know how to react, a human can direct the vehicle on what to do. The cars can handle most situations seamlessly, but as we all know, crazy stuff can happen. Human intervention helps smooth things over.
There’s a great article on this in the Times if you have access – check it out:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/03/technology/zoox-self-driving-cars-remote-control.html