Toyota followed in Uber’s footsteps Tuesday, pausing tests of its driverless car system “Chauffeur”.
The decision came even after authorities said Uber was “likely not at fault” for one of its autonomous vehicles striking and killing a pedestrian in Tempe, Ariz., on Sunday. Still, it’s a move one advocacy group exec likely agrees with.
“Is getting them out faster the best idea, or is getting them out right the best idea?” Center for Auto Safety executive director Jason Levine told Cheddar before the Toyota news broke.
Police investigating the Uber incident claim the car, in self-driving mode with a human behind the wheel, was travelling at 38 mph and made no attempt to brake when a woman walked onto the street.
But the pedestrian “came from the shadows right into the roadway,” according to Tempe’s Police Chief, making the accident difficult to avoid in any case.
It was the first known fatality caused by a self-driving car, prompting Uber to halt its own pilot programs and raising questions about the future of the nascent technology, with many calling for a slowdown in development.
“There should be some step between the computer lab, the completely controlled test track, and releasing them into the communities,” said Levine.
The pace of development in this space is moving at a speed that makes it hard to build regulations and safety procedures, he added.
“There, right now, are no regulations before putting these things on the road...there’s no pre-investigation or examination of whether the technology meets the same standards as a non-self-driving vehicle.”
Autonomous cars have been seen as the futuristic antidote to the tens of thousands of deaths caused by traffic accident deaths every year in the U.S. So far the technology’s track record suggests the error levels are far lower than in traditional autos.
The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating the Uber incident.
Despite challenges like inflation, labor and product shortages, and the Omicron variant, holiday sales saw record levels of growth this year, according to a new report from Mastercard SpendingPulse. The group reports on national retail sales across all payment types, finding that holiday sales rose at the fastest pace in 17 years this year. Mastercard senior advisor and former chariman and CEO of Saks Incorporated Steve Sadove joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Keith Fitz-Gerald, chief investment officer at Fitz-Gerald Group, spoke to Cheddar about the growing competition for Tesla's electric cars in China as tech giant Huawei enters the race. "There's a lot of legacy worry, but that does not discount the possibility that Elon might have a contender on his hands," he said about the sometimes troubled telecom company. Fitz-Gerald also gave a nod to two other local rivals, Nio and XPeng, noting the latter as having something of an edge with its CEO He Xiopeng being lauded by Chinese state media.
2021 was a wild ride for the world of cryptos. Both Bitcoin and Etherum hit new all-time highs, as well as other coins like SHIB-INU. According to several experts, crypto is here to stay and is expected to blast off in the year 2022 as more and more people invest in the crypto world. The host of "The O Show" Wendy O, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Over the past year, the new love for gaming has created a huge demand for the consumption of content on streaming platforms. All this has caused a rise in gaming influencers all over the world. Founder of Viral Nation Joe Gagliese and Digital Video Executive Andrew Wall, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
