Artificial intelligence (AI) is seeping into every facet of life, but should we give self-driving cars the red or green light? 

Speaking on Show Me the Science, Professor Luke O’Neill explained driverless cars were once seen as a solution to road accidents. 

“There are 1.25 million deaths per year in the world because of traffic accidents,” he said.  

“Now imagine if that went because of self-driving vehicles because they should be able to avoid crashing into each other or at least avoid accidents.” 

Despite this promise, however, self-driving cars have proven so far to bring issues of their own. 

Self-driving Ubers

Taxi service Uber, for example, invested in driverless cars “very early and very heavily” to possibly replace all drivers. 

“But they are actually causing problems and the reason why Uber backed out was someone who has been killed,” Prof O’Neill said. 

Elaine Herzberg was the first ever pedestrian to be killed by a self-driving car.  

While there was a human in the driver seat, the car was driving itself. Ms Herzberg was pushing her cycle while holding multiple shopping bags and was crossing the road when the car struck her.

A self-driving car being tested by Uber in Pittsburgh, PA. Image: Michael Ventura / Alamy Stock Photo

 “The car got confused by the shaking of the swinging of the bags and the bicycle – it didn’t realise there was a human being and crashed,” Prof O’Neill said. 

“They reckon it was the swinging of the shopping bags that confused the car because it was obviously able to see that using imaging technology, but it didn't spot it as a human being. 

“Because of that, they reckon Uber said, 'We can't really be getting into this yet’ - the technology isn't ready yet.” 

Uber is not the only company to see self-driving car fatalities; in April 2022, Cruise's testing vehicle was reported to have blocked a fire engine on emergency call, and sparked questions about its ability to handle unexpected circumstances. 

The 'dream' of self-driving cars

Prof O’Neill said, however, “the dream remains” to introduce self-driving cars on roads. 

“They're talking about dedicated lanes just for autonomous trucks, for instance,” he said. 

“Dedicated lanes for these driverless cars, maybe the next thing we're going to see.” 

Some 58 people have died on Irish roads in 2024 so far, compared to 42 in the same time period last year.