Public safety a must with autonomous vehicles
The National Transportation Safety Board’s decision to investigate incidents involving Waymo autonomous vehicles and school buses should concern every Atlantan, especially parents. The NTSB does not open investigations lightly, and when it does, the implications often shape transportation policy for years.
These concerns are not abstract. Waymo vehicles have been involved in troubling incidents in Atlanta involving school buses, raising serious questions about how autonomous systems operate around children and in complex, real-world traffic conditions. When a school bus stop arm is extended, there is no margin for error.
The NTSB’s involvement is especially significant because it follows an earlier inquiry by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Waymo has stated that earlier safety issues were identified and corrected. Yet the launch of a second federal investigation suggests those assurances may not have fully addressed the risks.
The distinction between the two agencies matters. NHTSA focuses on regulatory compliance, whether existing rules were followed. The NTSB goes further, asking whether a system is fundamentally safe and whether current rules are adequate to protect the public.
As Atlanta becomes a testing ground for autonomous vehicles, our streets and our children should not be treated as part of a beta program. Innovation is important, but public safety must come first. When it comes to protecting children, moving fast is no substitute for getting it right.
AMY WITHERITE, ATLANTA
They care about Trump more than Georgia voters
At a time when even President Donald Trump is distancing himself from himself over the immigration debacle in Minneapolis, Georgia has three wannabe, tone-deaf Republican senatorial candidates stepping on one another’s toes and all over themselves trying to squirm inside the president’s coat pockets and genuflect 40 ways from Sunday to get his endorsement.
Nothing Immigration and Customs Enforcement does is ever beyond bounds, say these three august gentlemen. It’s all good governance in their myopic eyes. Are these three “peas in a pod” the best our GOP has to offer?
All we’ve ever needed is a senator who will represent all citizens. We want a senator who will bravely go into scary parts of the state where different opinions might exist, listen to everyone and perhaps learn what we all want. What we don’t need is someone who prefers to hide out in familiar, comfortable echo chambers.
REGINA SMITH, ATHENS
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