The Dialogue: What Readers Had To Say About Self-Driving Cars Coming To Oregon

“Let’s be honest here. Ukrainian hackers are probably better drivers than the majority of Oregonians.”

(Collage by Rosie Struve)
By WW Staff

Last week, WW wrote about Oregon's struggle to handle the coming wave of self-driving cars. Some state lawmakers consider autonomous vehicles unsafe, but others argue that the technology is coming whether we're ready or not. Here's how our readers weighed in.

Paul Dillon, via Twitter: "Most of the drivers in Portland could be replaced with a Texas Instruments scientific calculator and it would be a vast improvement."

Museo, via wweek.com: "Nobody seems to care that the level of surveillance will ratchet up multifold. Social media, phone, now car. All your actions totally tracked by the corporate-government overlords."

Donovan Caylor, via Facebook: "Bring it. The less humans are involved in the driving process the better."

Snegurochka, via wweek.com: "One thing needs to get straightened out before these self-driving cars are allowed on our roads: insurance. Who is liable in an accident? Is the human-driven car always going to be at fault? Because we all know computers never make mistakes."

Zotts, via Twitter: "I am looking forward to how autonomous cars deal with all our 'undeveloped roads.' Will they not drive down them or go headlong into large potholes and never be seen again?"

E.W. Niedermeyer, via Twitter: "Local Oregon legislators are gleefully demonstrating their lack of familiarity with autonomous vehicle policy issues. News flash: AVs aren't uniquely vulnerable to hackers, guys."

Nat McGowan, via wweek.com: "Let's be honest here. Ukrainian hackers are probably better drivers than the majority of Oregonians."

Jacob Grier, via Twitter: "Color me shocked that our state that banked on streetcars as the future of urban transit is unprepared for self-driving autos."

JG Gibson, via Facebook: "Imagine the herky-jerky, stop and start of those driverless cars in the downtown area, as pedestrians know that those cars will stop, and cross the street even more willy-nilly and haphazardly than they do now. It will be amazing to watch."

Sukie DW, via Facebook: "If you can't accept how to pump gas, you can't have a self-driving car. It's that simple."

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