If Self-Driving Systems Imitate Human Drivers, Are They any Safer?

Self-driving systems like Tesla’s ‘Mad Max mode’ are modeling themselves on human behavior — sometimes the worst of it.

As David Zipper explains in a piece for Fast Company, Teslas using the company’s most aggressive self-driving mode “will roll through stop signs and blast past other vehicles on the road,” ignoring posted speed limits. And Tesla isn’t the only one programming cars to flout traffic laws. 

Experts say that a robotaxi’s lack of ability to discern when breaking the law might be safe or appropriate means that they are likely to violate laws regardless of situational context. Meanwhile, most states still lack a regulatory framework for ticketing or citing driverless cars.