Beverly Hills Wants To Be Test Site For Driverless Cars
BEVERLY HILLS (CBSLA.com) — Beverly Hills, home to the rich and famous, is ready to go full throttle on the self-driving car movement.
The city is asking the federal government if it can become a test site for autonomous vehicles.
"I'm really shocked at the rush toward this technology given what we know" and what we don't know, said Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court.
He claimed there are too many studies showing driverless cars are simply too dangerous.
"We are going to turn one of the highest rent districts in Los Angeles into a killing zone if these cars come on the road without human drivers anytime soon," Court argued. "They are not ready. Even the technologists admit they are not ready."
If Beverly Hills gets the green light, it plans to use the cars as a public transportation shuttle system to ease traffic and parking problems.
The city is creating smart roads with sensors that allow driverless cars to navigate and communicate with each other.
"You have to start somewhere. So I'd agree with them for doing, you know, allowing them to be a test city," Los Angeles resident Marc Annotti said.
"L.A.'s a crazy place for traffic. I think if they tested it somewhere else, that might be safer. That's just my opinion," L.A. resident Lauren Adolph said.
Just hours after Uber launched its testing of self-driving cars in San Francisco in December, a self-driving Uber SUV was caught on camera running a red light.
Instead of doing so, Uber took its robot car testing to Arizona, which welcomed Uber with open arms.