"Even with safety drivers, Uber’s wager is risky because the project will allow vastly more people to see the technology’s flaws, said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who researches self-driving cars.
“This is going to expose the technology to the public but also will give them a much more intimate view of its mistakes,” he said. “They’ll see in a very direct sense that these are technologies in progress.”
He said he expects that the program will engender trust and that riders who experience the beta test are likely to walk away with a positive idea of automation. “The astounding thing is that people think that these are terrifying until they get into a vehicle,” Walker Smith said. “Then, a mile later, they have total and complete confidence in these systems.”"