BEAUTIFUL VIEW

I recently read yet another argument that a driving road test should be enough to certify an autonomous vehicle as safe for driving. In general, the idea was that if it's good enough to put a 16 year old on the road, it should be good enough for a self-driving vehicle.  I see this idea enough that it's worth explaining why it it's a really bad one.

Even if we were to assume that a self-driving vehicle is no different than a person (which is clearly NOT true), applying the driving test is only half the driver license formula. The other half is the part about being 16 years old. If a 12 year old is proficient at operating a vehicle, we still don't issue a drivers license. In addition to technical skills and book knowledge, we as a society have imposed a maturity requirement in most states of "being 16." It is typical that you don't get an unrestricted license until you're perhaps 18. And even then you're probably not a great driver at any age until you get some experience. But, we won't even let you on the road under adult supervision at 12!

The maturity requirement is essential.  As a driver we're expected to have the maturity to recognize when something isn't right, to avoid dangerous situations, to bring the vehicle to a safe state when something has gone wrong, to avoid operating when the vehicle system (vehicle + driver) is impaired, to improvise when something weird happens, and to compensate for other drivers who are having a bad day (or are simply suffering from only being 16). Autonomous driving systems might be able to do some of that, or even most of it in the near term. (I would argue that they are especially bad at self-detecting when they don't know what's going on.) But the point is a normal driving test doesn't come close to demonstrating "maturity" if we could even define that term in a rigorous, testable way. It's not supposed to -- that's why licenses require both testing and "being 16."

To be sure, human age is not a perfect correlation to maturity. But as a society we've come to the situation in which this system is working well enough that we're not changing it except for some tweaks every few years for very young and very old drivers who have historically higher mishap rates. But the big point is if a 12 year old demonstrates they are a whiz at vehicle operation and traffic rules, they still don't get a license.  In fact, they don't even get permission to operate on a public road with adult supervision (i.e., no learners permit at 12 in any US state that I know of.)  So why does it make sense to use a human driving test analogy to give a driver license, or even a learner permit, to an autonomous vehicle that was designed in the last few months?  Where's the maturity?

Autonomy advocates argue that encapsulating skill and fleet-wide learning from diverse situations could help cut down the per-driver learning curve. And it could reduce the frequency of poor choices such as impaired driving and distracted driving. If properly implemented, this could all work well and could improve driving safety -- especially for drivers who are prone to impaired and distracted driving. But while it's plausible to argue that autonomous vehicles won't make stupid choices about driving impaired, that is not at all the same thing as saying that they will be mature drivers who can handle unexpected situations and in general display good judgment comparable to a typical, non-impaired human driver. Much of safe driving is not about technical skill, but rather amounts to driving judgment maturity. In other words, saying that autonomous vehicles won't make stupid mistakes does not automatically make them better than human drivers.  

I'd want to at least see an argument of technological maturity as a gate before even getting to a driving skills test. In other words, I want an argument that the car is the equivalent of "being 16" before we even issue the learner permit, let alone the driver license. Suggesting that a driving test is all it takes to put a vehicle on the road means: building a mind-boggling complex software system with technology we're just at the point of understanding how to validate, doing an abbreviated acceptance test of basic skills (a few minutes on the road), and then deciding it's fine to put in charge of several thousand pounds of metal, glass, and a human cargo as it hurtles down the highway. (Not to mention the innocent bystanders it puts at risk.)