People think self-driving cars should be 'better' than human drivers, executive says

• Laura Majors of Hyundai-backed Motional said autonomous vehicle firms had to "raise the bar" on safety.
• The technology is facing growing scrutiny amid high-profile recalls by Cruise and Tesla.

Many people think self-driving cars should be better than human drivers, an industry executive said.

Laura Majors, chief technology officer of Hyundai subsidiary Motional, told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos that while autonomous vehicles could have enormous societal benefits, it may also be difficult for the industry to persuade the public that they don't pose a threat.

The industry is under scrutiny following high-profile problems faced by robotaxi firm Cruise in California.

"There's a difference between an accident caused by a human driver, and an accident caused by an autonomous system," said Majors. "People perceive them very differently."

"I think that the expectation is that they have to be a lot better than a human driver, because when there is an accident and the computer's involved, there's less empathy or understanding."

Majors said that Motional, a Hyundai-Aptiv joint venture developing autonomous technology, had operated more than 2 million miles autonomously with no at-fault crashes. Despite assertions by driverless car companies about safety, she argued they still had to "raise the bar."

Autonomous vehicles have come under growing scrutiny in recent months after a series of high-profile incidents.

Cruise, which was trialing "robotaxi" services that ferried passengers around San Francisco without a human driver, was forced to recall its entire fleet late last year. California regulators ruled its vehicles posed a risk to public safety following a gruesome incident involving a pedestrian.

The company is now fighting for survival, with numerous senior executives departing and a significant chunk of the GM-owned firm being laid off.

Tesla has also faced controversy over its "Autopilot" system — a more limited form of assistance that allows drivers to automatically park, change lanes, and steer their vehicles — but requires them to keep their hands on the wheel.

Elon Musk's company recalled more than two million vehicles, with regulators finding Tesla was not doing enough to prevent misuse after Autopilot was involved in hundreds of crashes, some fatal.

"I think it's been an industry where people have got away with being very ungrounded in reality," said Robert Falck, CEO of Swedish autonomous driving company Einride AB, told the audience at Davos.

"The industry has taken a lot of time to develop, and I think the main driver behind that is it has failed a little bit to match the maturity of the technology with the expectations of society," he added.

He told the panel that companies such as Einride needed to prioritize rolling out autonomous vehicles incrementally.

"We need to match the technology and understand what we are saying yes or no to. And that is something that in the world of venture capitalists has got a little bit lost, because you need to promise flying moonshots to be able to get the funding behind it," Falck said.

Hyundai did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.