Comment from Monica Jensen
Monica JensenOpposeIndividual
Summary: Monica Jensen argues that removing the option for a manual emergency brake in autonomous vehicles is dangerous due to the potential for computer malfunctions and hacking. She contends that passengers must have the ability to override the vehicle's computer to ensure safety in unpredictable real-world scenarios.
While I can appreciate the desire to improve the technology required in a vehicle, I believe it would be incredibly dangerous to remove the option of a manual emergency brake from autonomous vehicles.
Computers can malfunction. They can also be hacked. No matter how safe the equipment is made, there is always going to be a bad actor out there with the goal of breaking into it. Eliminating the ability for passengers in a vehicle to be able to manually override whatever the computer has chosen to do, will cost lives.
This technology is also incredibly new. There hasn't been enough real world usage of these vehicles to truly evaluate their current safety. There are issues currently happening with autonomous vehicles driving through accident scenes, driving over barriers, and clogging up neighborhood streets when they don't have passengers. The lack of a passenger's ability to apply an emergency brake if one of the above situations happens, and it threatens that person's life, is untenable.
Sincerely,
Monica Jensen