Technology fails. And when it fails in your browser, you refresh. When it fails at 70 miles per hour, you do not get that luxury.
This rush toward self driving vehicles is not innovation. It is a live experiment on public roads.
This Technology Is Still in Its Infancy
Autonomous vehicle companies love to talk like the problem is solved. It is not. Not even close.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there have been hundreds of crashes involving vehicles operating with automated driving systems, including multiple fatalities [1]. These systems are still heavily reliant on edge case handling, which are the exact situations they are worst at managing.
Even the companies building these systems admit it. California DMV disengagement reports show that autonomous vehicles still require frequent human intervention to avoid unsafe situations [2].
That is not self driving. That is assisted driving with a marketing department.
Lack of Transparency Is a Feature, Not a Bug
Here is what should bother you more than the crashes. We do not actually know how these systems make decisions.
The algorithms are proprietary. The data is guarded. The failure modes are buried in legal language.
When a human driver makes a mistake, we can reconstruct it. When an autonomous system fails, we get a press release.
There is no meaningful transparency into decision making models, training data biases, edge case failure handling, or real world safety thresholds.
We are being asked to trust black boxes with human lives.
In cybersecurity, we have a rule. Never trust version 1.0. You wait for the first service pack. You let someone else find the holes.
So why are people strapping themselves into rolling computers that have not even hit SP1?
People Are Already Abusing It
And here is where things get worse. Human behavior.
People are treating these systems like they are fully autonomous when they are not. Social media is flooded with videos of drivers sitting in the back seat while the car is moving, sleeping behind the wheel, or filming themselves hands free for attention.
Law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, have repeatedly warned about drivers misusing partially automated systems and failing to remain attentive, which is a requirement for these vehicles [3].
There have been documented incidents of drivers being arrested for riding in the back seat of a moving Tesla while using Autopilot [4].
This is what happens when marketing outpaces reality. People hear self driving and stop acting like drivers.
The machine does not need to fail if the human already has.
Real World Incidents Are Not Hypothetical
This is not theoretical. It is already happening.
In California, a self driving vehicle operated by Waymo struck a pedestrian in 2024 after another vehicle pushed the person into its path [5]. The system reacted, but not in time to prevent injury. That is the kind of unpredictable scenario humans deal with instinctively and machines struggle to interpret.
Tesla Autopilot and Full Self Driving systems have been linked to dozens of crashes, including fatal incidents, and are under federal investigation [6].
These are not rare edge cases anymore. These are patterns.
My Experience, And Why I Do Not Trust It
I was riding with a friend between Amsterdam and Brussels. He was in a Tesla and said, Len watch this, and he enabled self drive.
I told him to put his hands on the wheel and drive or we may have to scrap as we roll down the freeway.
I know the dangers that are caused by compromising technology. I am willing to risk some aspects of my life by using the internet, but I do not trust computers to drive me anywhere.
If I have a choice of autonomous driving or walking, I have comfortable shoes.
We Are Moving Faster Than We Are Thinking
There are also growing legal challenges. Lawsuits against autonomous vehicle manufacturers continue to mount, often alleging negligence, misleading marketing, or system failure contributing to crashes [7].
These cases reinforce a simple truth. The technology is being deployed faster than it can be safely validated.
And that is the part nobody wants to say out loud.
We are normalizing risk before we understand it.
This is not like adopting smartphones or social media. This is kinetic risk. Physical consequences. Immediate outcomes.
I Am Not Against Progress, I Am Against Blind Trust
We need this technology to evolve. It has potential. It could reduce human error someday.
But someday is not today.
Right now, this technology needs independent safety audits, mandatory transparency standards, clear accountability frameworks, and real regulatory oversight.
Because what we have today is not ready for blind trust.
And anyone in security will tell you, trusting unproven systems is not optimism.
It is negligence.
About the Author
Len Noe is a Solutions Architect at BeyondTrust, Transhuman, Podcaster, International Cyber Security Speaker, Author, Technical Evangelist, and Biohacker with 11 implanted microchips. A former blackhat and ex-1% motorcycle club member with more than 30 years in technology, he has presented in over 70 countries and is featured in the documentary I Am Machine, which premiered at DEF CON 2025.
https://www.i-am-machine.com
Citations
[1] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA Automated Driving Systems Crash Data
https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/standing-general-order-crash-reporting
[2] California DMV Autonomous Vehicle Disengagement Reports
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-industry-services/autonomous-vehicles/disengagement-reports/
[3] California Highway Patrol Driver Responsibility Guidance
https://www.chp.ca.gov/
[4] BBC News Tesla driver arrested for riding in back seat while using Autopilot
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56906145
[5] Reuters Waymo self driving car strikes pedestrian in San Francisco
https://www.reuters.com/technology/waymo-self-driving-car-hits-pedestrian-san-francisco-2024-02-14/
[6] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Investigation into Tesla Autopilot
https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-investigation-tesla-autopilot
[7] The Verge Lawsuits and legal scrutiny around autonomous vehicle safety
https://www.theverge.com/2023/tesla-autopilot-lawsuits-self-driving-safety