San Mateo County is trying to keep driverless cars from companies like Waymo out
San Mateo County, California – San Mateo County is working hard to keep self-driving cars like Waymo‘s from operating within its borders. The board of supervisors for the county voted in favor of a resolution on Tuesday that would give local government the power to decide whether driverless cars can drive on county streets instead of the California Public Utilities Commission. The main reason for this change is that people are becoming more worried about their safety.
President of the Board of Supervisors David Canepa said he was very worried about rushing to use self-driving cars without fully understanding what would happen. He used the problems San Francisco has had with self-driving cars (AVs) as an example of what not to do.
AVs in neighborhoods have not only made people worry about their safety, but they have also started a larger conversation about how technology and AI are becoming more and more important in our daily lives. There is tension in the air as people think about machines doing jobs that humans have traditionally done. This makes the conversation about driverless cars even more complicated.
This opposition from San Mateo County shows a larger reluctance and the need for a more thoughtful and locally-informed method to bring these technologies into our communities. The resolution that the board of supervisors passed shows that more control and oversight at the local level is needed to make sure that the introduction of driverless cars is done in a way that puts the safety and well-being of the people in the county first.
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As more people use self-driving cars, the conversation about their use, especially when it comes to safety and public acceptance, becomes more important. The position taken by San Mateo County makes it clear that there are problems and things to think about as automotive technology advances and interacts with everyday life.
