Guest: Daniel Greene, Senior Director of Consumer Protection and Product Safety, National Consumers League
Topic: Driverless Cars — The Past, Present, and Future of Autonomous Vehicles
The car pulls up. You get into the back seat. The car pulls away, the blinker goes on, the steering wheel turns — and there’s no driver. No one. Get ready, folks. This is the future.
On the latest episode of The Good Government Show, I sat down with Daniel Greene, Senior Director of Consumer Protection and Product Safety at the National Consumers League. We met at the National League of Cities conference in Washington, where Dan spoke at a session on the future of transportation, and then he gave me a masterclass on driverless cars — where they are, where they’re headed, and what government needs to do about it.
I’ll admit it: I’ve never been in one. I live in New York City. We don’t have them. I take the subway, which — I checked — still has a driver. But after talking with Dan, my overall impression was: cool. Okay, I’m ready to take a ride.
Dan has taken a few rides himself, all in San Francisco, which he calls the capital of autonomous vehicle development. What surprised him most wasn’t the technology — it was how fast he got comfortable. A matter of minutes, he told me. It reminded him of his first Uber ride: surreal at first, then suddenly normal.
But here’s what makes this a good government story. When I asked Dan the obvious question — are these cars safe? — he gave me the honest answer: we don’t know yet. There simply haven’t been enough miles traveled to compare autonomous vehicles to human drivers. Some studies are promising. Others are troubling. And there have been real incidents, including a Waymo vehicle that blocked an ambulance responding to an emergency in Austin.
Meanwhile, the case for the technology is hard to ignore. Roughly 40,000 people die on America’s roads every year, and over a million are injured — much of it due to human error. Distraction. Poor decisions. Things a computer doesn’t do.
So what’s the answer? Dan put it in terms every policymaker should hear: the key to regulating these technologies is making sure the rush to deployment doesn’t become a race to the bottom. Rather than reacting after crashes happen, he wants a system where companies proactively identify risks, prove their vehicles can manage them, and show regulators the evidence — before the cars hit our streets.
That’s the work the National Consumers League does every day: partnering with legislators and regulators to make sure innovation moves forward safely. Because as Dan told me, if the public rejects this technology, the whole industry fails. Safety isn’t a barrier to innovation. It’s the price of admission.
We also talked about what good government means. Dan spent a decade in public service, including in Senator Ed Markey’s office, where one story stuck with me. A constituent called, devastated, after a family member was killed at a rail crossing in Longmeadow, Massachusetts — the fifth death at that same crossing. The family had zero expectation anything would happen. Dan and Senator Markey got safety technology installed at that crossing. As Dan put it: that’s good governance — when you exceed the expectations of the people to meet a pressing public policy issue.
And one more thing I learned: Dan is a Krav Maga instructor. So when he tells you he’s fighting for consumers, he means it in more ways than one.
Give the episode a listen wherever you get your podcasts. And who knows — in the future, you may not have to keep your eyes on the road on your way to work.
— Dave Martin, Host, The Good Government Show
PULL QUOTES
“The biggest challenge in deploying autonomous vehicles hasn’t been regulatory. It hasn’t been financial. It’s really been the technology. This is very difficult to do.” — Daniel Greene
“They’re moving at the speed of innovation, which means they could be here tomorrow. They could never be here at all. The truth is, we don’t really know.” — Daniel Greene
“The key to regulating these technologies is ensuring that the rush to deployment doesn’t become a race to the bottom.” — Daniel Greene
“Good government is addressing the needs of the people that could only be addressed by a governmental entity.” — Daniel Greene
“That’s good governance — when you exceed the expectations of the people to meet a pressing public policy issue.” — Daniel Greene
“We through government can make this country better and people’s lives better.” — Daniel Greene
About The Good Government Show and the Good Government Institute
The Good Government Show is produced by the Good Government Institute, a nonprofit organization promoting civic engagement and civic education. Hosted by Dave Martin, the show features conversations with government leaders and public servants who share great ideas and what public service means to all of us. Each episode extends GGI’s core mission: demonstrating that government works, and that the people in public service do meaningful work every day. Executive producers are Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, and David Snyder. Jason Stershic is editor and producer. Learn more, listen, and donate at goodgovinstitute.org.