US fatality could slow down self-driving car testing

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Slow Roll ◽  
Self Driving Cars ◽  
Roll Out

Significance This comes a week after an autonomous Uber vehicle killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona on March 18. Uber had already suspended its testing there (and in Pittsburgh, Toronto and San Francisco) but presumably now it will not be able to restart testing in Arizona until it receives state permission, even if it restarts testing elsewhere. The United States has been leading the push for effective and ubiquitous self-driving vehicles. The fatality raises ethical and policy questions. Impacts The incident may slow roll-out of testing without a safety driver, scheduled to start in California on April 2. This may also bring to the forefront the ethical dilemmas for self-driving cars, which have yet to be settled. Further such fatalities and widespread reporting could shift public opinion against autonomous vehicles.

The ideological divide in public perceptions of self-driving cars

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 436-451
Author(s):  
Yilang Peng
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
United States ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
New Information ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Self Driving Cars ◽  
Social Conservatism

Applications in artificial intelligence such as self-driving cars may profoundly transform our society, yet emerging technologies are frequently faced with suspicion or even hostility. Meanwhile, public opinions about scientific issues are increasingly polarized along the ideological line. By analyzing a nationally representative panel in the United States, we reveal an emerging ideological divide in public reactions to self-driving cars. Compared with liberals and Democrats, conservatives and Republicans express more concern about autonomous vehicles and more support for restrictively regulating autonomous vehicles. This ideological gap is largely driven by social conservatism. Moreover, both familiarity with driverless vehicles and scientific literacy reduce respondents’ concerns over driverless vehicles and support for regulation policies. Still, the effects of familiarity and scientific literacy are weaker among social conservatives, indicating that people may assimilate new information in a biased manner that promotes their worldviews.

Current Developments in Autonomous Vehicle Policy in the United States: Federalism’s Influence in State and National Regulatory Law and Policy

Global Jurist ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Salatiello ◽  
Troy B. Felver
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Autonomous Vehicle ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Maximum Benefit ◽  
Regulatory Law ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
Self Driving Cars

Abstract With the advent of autonomous vehicles, especially self-driving cars, there is great promise for society. However, cars are not islands; they operate in a community of vehicles. Laws and regulations are crafted to allow the maximum benefit for the community while imposing the fewest costs. Unfortunately, a full accounting of these benefits and costs is not entirely clear at promulgation. Because the technologies and how they will be used are so uncertain, regulatory bodies have to try to build on what they have done in the past, sometimes successfully and sometimes unevenly. This paper will examine several regulatory attempts involving these new technologies in the United States, both on the federal and state levels. Also considered will be the interaction of these regulations under a federal system with defined and specific responsibilities for both sovereigns. A view on future developments is provided to gauge the directions additional regulation could take. Finally, generalizable lessons from this approached will be summarized.

EU-China economic ties will become more distant

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Medical Equipment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
European Public ◽  
Economic Ties ◽  
Over Time

Significance The pandemic has exposed Europe’s dependence on China for medical equipment, the vulnerability of European firms to Chinese takeovers and China’s lack of transparency in general. The resulting deterioration of European governments’ views of China increases the likelihood that EU-China economic relations will become somewhat more distant over time. Impacts The EU’s view of China is aligning more with that of the United States, but differences in aims and tactics impede cooperation. The election of Joe Biden as US president in November would strengthen Western cohesion and cooperation over China. European public opinion on China is likely to become more negative over time.

US foreign policy differences to sharpen in 2019

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Terrorism Threat ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
The Government

Significance Trump entered office deeply sceptical of the importance of wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, but his critics say his troop-withdrawal announcements are timed to distract US public opinion from the Mueller probe into his administration and 2016 election campaign. Other critics -- some of them otherwise Trump’s allies, including Republican senators -- fear the troop withdrawals will raise the terrorism threat facing the United States. Impacts A government shutdown tonight would see a further push for continuing resolutions to fund the government, pending further talks. Mattis had been a quasi-envoy to US defence partners in Asia; they will be concerned by his departure. Resurgence of terrorism in Syria or Afghanistan could undermine Trump politically, if the threat facing the United States rises. Republican Senate control should help Mattis’s replacement get confirmed more easily.

US green deregulation push could snag after November

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coal Industry ◽  
Environmental Laws ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Green Policy ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Global Action ◽  
Trump Administration

Significance A change to the rule could aid the coal industry, a political and economic priority of the Trump administration. The move follows mid-September’s Global Action Summit in San Francisco, which gathered some 4,500 local and state leaders and environmental activists from around the planet. A report, ‘Fulfilling America’s Pledge’, released ahead of the summit projected that the United States will miss the Paris Climate Accord targets. Meanwhile, shortly before the summit, Governor Jerry Brown signed an order for California to attain carbon neutrality by 2045. Impacts State green policy imbalances will make some states more appealing for industry (and bring differing business compliance costs). While a state could have more lax environmental laws, consumers may demand businesses work to higher standards. More relaxed environmental regulations could benefit the administration’s efforts to bolster US industry under ‘America First’.

US removal of import benefits will hit ASEAN trade

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The United States ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Asean Countries ◽  
The Cost

Subject Headwinds for US-ASEAN trade. Significance The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) last month withdrew ‘developing country’ status from several countries, including half the ASEAN states. This 'developing' status to a large extent protects countries that have it from US investigations into their trade practices. Impacts US companies will file more trade complaints against their South-east Asian rivals because the threshold for such complaints will be lower. More US tariffs on goods from ASEAN countries would increase the cost of doing business for South-east Asia. South-east Asian public opinion towards the United States will deteriorate.

Central America’s vaccine efforts face mixed prospects

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
World Health ◽  
Business Travel ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Roll Out

Significance Elsewhere in the region, only Panama has so far received a first vaccine shipment, suggesting roll-outs initially will be patchy. Central American governments are sourcing their vaccines either through direct purchases from manufacturers or through programmes run by the World Health Organization (WHO). Impacts A black market is likely to emerge both for vaccines and vaccination certificates. Poorer countries will receive more vaccine support once roll-outs have advanced in wealthier countries globally, but this may take time. Vaccine roll-out in the United States will benefit Central America in terms of tourism, business travel and investment recovery.

Digital currencies mark a tectonic shift for banking

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Currency ◽  
Development Phases ◽  
Legal Difficulties ◽  
Roll Out ◽  
Do So

Significance Nigeria will be the 15th country to launch a pilot of central bank digital currency (CBDC); China was the first major economy to do so. A further 68 central banks are in the research and development phases that precede a pilot. Impacts China may roll out its CBDC nationwide in 2022, and if so, could force the United States to accelerate its own CBDC project. CBDC projects are fraught with technical and legal difficulties, and planned schedules may not always be held. CBDCs will not compete with non-digital currencies until more major economies disseminate a CBDC. Cash still dominates in many nations and CBDC adoption will be slower where people are reluctant to lose the anonymity of cash payments.

scholarly journals Case Commentary: Daptomycin Resistance in Staphylococcus argenteus—from Northern Australia to San Francisco

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnold S. Bayer ◽  
Steven Y. C. Tong
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
The United States ◽  
Skin Infections ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hemodialysis Catheter ◽  
Northern Territories

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus argenteus infection was initially described in Aboriginal patients in the Northern Territories of Australia as a predominant cause of skin infections and is rare outside Southeast Asia. A first well-characterized case of S. argenteus infection has now been described in the United States, involving a recurrent hemodialysis catheter infection, in which unstable daptomycin resistance evolved during daptomycin therapy. The unique colonial pigmentation of S. argenteus isolates in strains otherwise identified as Staphylococcus aureus is noteworthy.

Corruption findings will strain Nigerien government

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Track Record ◽  
Military Procurement ◽  
The Government

Subject Corruption in military procurement. Significance With the presidential election set to take place in December, the government is under fire over its lenient approach to corruption in military procurement -- at a time when Nigerien soldiers have been losing their lives in the struggle to combat jihadist armed groups. With 160 Nigerien soldiers killed in recent jihadist attacks, the theft of money that could have been used better to equip the armed forces is a hot issue, particularly as the alleged culprits have connections to the ruling PNDS Taraya party. This offers opponents a chance to mobilise public opinion against the government. Impacts The exposure of corruption damages the ruling party’s claim of a track record of effective public sector management. The government allows culprits to escape jail time if they repay stolen funds, which will alienate urban public opinion. France and the United States will not publicly criticise the government, a key ally.

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