Some observers say a key flaw in the Science study is that it does not take into account how the artificial intelligence being developed to control driverless vehicles actually works. “This question of ethics has become a popular topic with people who don’t work on the technology,” says Ragunathan “Raj” Rajkumar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering in Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab and veteran of the university’s efforts to develop autonomous vehicles, including the Boss SUV that won the DARPA 2007 Urban Challenge. “AI does not have the same cognitive capabilities that we as humans have,” he adds. Rajkumar was not involved in the Science study.