Self-driving cars have been a dream from almost the time the automobile was invented. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), this dream has seemingly become reality with driverless commercial operations already taking place in a handful of cities around the world. However, the recent tragic accident involving a pedestrian and a Cruise self-driving car, as well as a number of high-profile Tesla crashes, raise the possibility that such 
systems may not actually be as capable as envisioned, and questions have arisen about their safety both nationally and internationally. Given these concerns, it is important to step back and analyze both the actual safety records of these vehicles and just why AI is struggling to operate safely under all conditions in autonomous vehicles.

This lecture will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of AI in self-driving cars, as well as in all safety-critical applications, and lay out a roadmap for safe integration of these technologies on public roadways.