By Lauren Ritirato, Staff Writer
Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to be heavily integrated and sparsely regulated in today’s society. In this case, specifically with usage sparked in San Francisco, Calif, robotaxi’s created by the company “Waymo,” by Google, and “Cruise,” by General Motors, are being routinely tested to be implemented in urban areas. As attempts for this technology continue to be assimilated into normalcy in society, these autonomous vehicles have triggered both excitement and skepticism among the public.
The question of both pedestrian and rider safety has been a growing concern among the public.
Senior actuarial science major VIncent Randazzo claimed that the introduction of robotaxis raises unanswered questions regarding safety, ethics and the future of employment.
“There should be a driver override. Honestly, it should be like a rental car where it’s driverless, but you can sit in the driver’s seat so if it freaks out you can take control of the wheel and the gas and the brakes,” Randazzo stated.
The ethical question of robotaxis lacking cognitive decision-making continues to weigh on citizens. They claim that since a robotaxi is only programmed, and does not have true knowledge or reaction like a human, that it leaves a difficult dilemma, similar to the “trolley problem.”
“Say it’s an old woman and a child, which one does the car hit? Like that’s stuff that you can’t ethically program. Not that that’s a choice that a human is going to make correctly or ethically, but how do you program tough choices like that? That will arise just as an eventuality. Or who do you try to protect more, the passengers or the pedestrians? Say a car is swerving across lanes, does the driverless car swerve onto the sidewalk where there may be pedestrians? Or does the driverless car turn itself and brace?” Randazzo questioned.
Amidst concerns for safety, another worry has arisen challenging the damage that robotaxis will have on the employment of drivers. Taxi drivers have already faced a massive hike in unemployment from the growing popularity of rideshare applications such as Uber and Lyft. With the introduction of self-driving robotaxis, both traditional taxi service and rideshare applications will see reduced demand as a new service enters the marketplace.
“Who does all of the programming? I just don’t like this idea,” freshman psychology and forensics science major Evi Tzortzatos said. “I feel like it’s so bizarre and it’s unnecessary because we have people who are willing to be Lyft drivers, Uber drivers and taxi drivers. If you start integrating AI into taxis, so many people are going to be out of jobs. A lot of people use Uber and Lyft as a second job for some more income and it will screw them over completely.”
Though companies are pushing for more integration of robotaxis into areas in San Francisco, both Randazzo and Tzortzatos do not foresee this technology spreading to New York City.
“I don’t think robotaxis will come to New York,” Randazzo expressed. “I think the taxi organization union is very strong, because I know they even pushed against Ubers and Lyfts and then the city is already overcrowded and inundated with Uber drivers and Lyft drivers; you can tell by the plates.”
Tzortzatos echoed these sentiments.
“I wouldn’t take a robotaxi. I personally don’t trust it, I would rather just drive myself everywhere. If I ever needed to take a taxi or an Uber I would not take a self-driving one, I would take a more traditional one where there’s an actual driver,” Tzortzatos said.
The attempt at integrating robotaxis into urban society is on the edge of what many deem as a somewhat uncomfortable new form of groundbreaking transportation. However, the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles raises challenging questions, both ethical and safety. Concerned citizens call for regulation of AI technology in these vehicles for pedestrian and rider safety, but bring to the table the argument of not being able to morally program autonomous vehicles.
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