Most Stressful Job on the Road: Not Driving an Autonomous Car

"The computer is fallible, so it's the human who is supposed to be perfect," one former Uber test driver said. "It's kind of the reverse of what you think about computers." The fatal crash last week in Tempe, Ariz., involving an Uber autonomous vehicle is bringing new scrutiny to both the quality of Uber's technology for avoiding collision and the efficacy of its backup system of so-called safety drivers. The accident, in which a woman was struck and killed as she walked a bicycle across a road at night, is believed to be the first involving a death from a self-driving car. In much of the autonomous-vehicle testing done on public roads, there are two safety drivers: one in the driver's seat; and one in the front passenger seat who is assigned the task of logging incidents onto a computer, but, drivers say, also helps by keeping a second set of eyes on the road.