Raj Rajkumar, a professor at CMU who is collaborating with General Motors on automated vehicle technology, says the Pittsburgh experiment will raise public awareness about how driverless systems work. “Most people of course will be thrilled to be part of the process,” he says. But he adds that Pittsburgh will be a challenging setting, given its weather and the complexity of its roads. He also notes that automated cars are still incapable of dealing with the unexpected. “This is an early testing version,” he says. “It’s going to be a long time before you take the driver out of the equation.”