Professor Clive Coen of King's College London has urged passengers to heed the warnings in Christian Wolmar's book Driverless Cars: On a Road to Nowhere following the announcement that Waymo's driverless taxis will operate on London's roads from next year.
In a letter to the Guardian, Coen highlighted that adherence to Isaac Asimov's first law of robotics—'A robot may not injure a human being'—would force a driverless taxi to stop if a person steps in front of it, potentially enabling highway robbery or worse.
Coen's comments came after the US firm Waymo announced its plans to launch driverless taxis in London, sparking debate about the safety and implications of autonomous vehicles.
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