'Someone is going to die': experts warn lawmakers over self-driving cars

Auto executives and US senators clash over calls for universal standards in robotic vehicles at Senate commerce committee hearing

The robot car revolution hit a speed bump on Tuesday as senators and tech experts sounded stern warnings about the potentially fatal risks of self-driving cars. "There is no question that someone is going to die in this technology," said Duke University roboticist Missy Cummings in testimony before the US Senate committee on commerce, science and transportation. "The question is when and what can we do to minimize that."

Automotive executives and lawmakers sniped at each other over whether universal standards were necessary for self-driving cars, with private sector saying that standards would slow progress and legislators replying that they'd heard the same objections over updated seatbelt standards in 1998.