Los Angeles Times

Are robot cars safer? Only one way to find out

SAN FRANCISCO - As long as robot cars roam public streets and highways, they will occasionally kill people. That's an ugly truth that no one in the driverless vehicle industry can deny.

Will those robot cars kill people at significantly lower rates than drunk, stoned, tired or distracted human drivers do now? Automakers, technology companies, politicians and regulators are betting they will, as driverless vehicles are rolling out faster than almost anyone expected as recently as a year ago.

But the Sunday night incident in Tempe, Ariz., in which an Uber robot

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