Alternatively - these are just growing pains until the human driving the truck is replaced by an algorithm.

So basically, self driving cars will be worse than human-driven cars until ALL cars are self driving cars? This is the first fully autonomous version of "No True Scotsman" that I've seen!

I don't think it is an instance of "No True Scotsman" to say that there are situations that self-driving cars may never be as good as humans at, but that those situations only occur because of the unpredictability of human drivers.

Self-driving cars don't have to be better than humans at everything in order to be objectively better drivers than humans. In 2010, 32,999 people died in car crashes in the US [0]. If self-driving cars are on-balance 1% better than human beings at driving, then 329 lives are saved.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_i...

This is the reason I believe that self driving thing is doomed. Significant amount of humans will refuse to stop driving. Fair amount of them will make life of self driving things unbearable. Sizable part - on porpoise. Just to check how good a computer is.

Seriously speaking from perspective of a truck driver.

The reasons truck driver backed into thing are: He couldn’t see it. It wasn’t there when he started.

Horn and flash of lights would stop a human driver. When I back up a truck I use all my senses, since I can’t see much. Easiest fix for the robot thingy - add horn and lights. (And wait until all residents start complaining)

I read a sentiment that I found myself nodding to: people will stop driving when it’s convenient for them.

Some people love driving, and some people love riding horses, but you don’t see many horses on city streets today.

People do die of old age, y'know. And long before that, they stop driving because their eyes become too bad and their reactions become too slow.

All you have to do to cement a driverless-car hegemony is to stop issuing new driver's licenses. 50 years later: no more drivers.

A human driver can shout and gesticulate which will enjoin passers-by to engage with the situation - waving and shouting too. I've seen several slow speed (eg parking) accidents avoided this way. Perhaps these vehicles need a "I'm in danger" external indicator of some sort too?

You mean like the hazard (sic!) lights and the horn? Out where I live, having those functional are amongst the hard requirements for street-legal vehicles.

No it's a separate, more primal, layer of hazard indication that seems to shortcut the Bystander Effect and enlist aid. It can be initiated by non-drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists too.

The argument for self-driving cars is that they will be no worse than a human driver.