Reference:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/technology/no-driver-bring-it-on-how-pittsburgh-became-ubers-testing-ground.html?ref=business&_r=0
When we think of cars, we think inherently of a vehicle with a person driving or steering the machine. However, Uber, the multinational transportation company, has began to launch a fleet of self-driving cars in the city of Pittsburgh. Although Uber may argue that self-driving cars will be an innovation that would limit the amount of automobile accidents, there is a considerably large potential problem with the testing these driverless cars on the public road.
With the experimental testing of these driverless cars in Pittsburgh, approximately 306,000 people will be at risk due to the uncertainty of the technology. The people of Pittsburgh have not received any say in being a part of the automobile testing, and I believe it is simply unethical for Uber to test their imperfect vehicles in a city full of people who haven’t given their full consent. Safety concerns of citizens should be the utmost priority for corporations, even for the sake of innovation. Corporate social responsibly is of the essence, and surely conducting experiments in the public roads of Pittsburgh is not an act of CSR. Moreover, as innovating as it may sound, driverless cars will take away the jobs of people in the transportation industry. The people who drive Uber cars or Taxi cabs are those typically of a lower income standing, therefore, the loss of jobs in this industry will leave these people right on the poverty line.
Business environments throughout the world is without a doubt, highly competitive; however, these days firms have forgotten the value of ethical practices in sight of profits. Only during the past year, there have been a large handful of unethical practices in business ranging from an automobile manufacturer cheating on EPA tests, to a large tech-company with an accounting scandal, to a pharmaceutical company increasing the price it’s life-saving HIV drug by 5000%. I believe and agree with the statement from Peter Robinson, the of CEO Mountain Equipment Co-Op, he says, “ Ethics is the new competitive environment.” I agree with the statement because I believe that the competition between companies shouldn’t solely be based on how much profit each company is making, but rather on how ethical each company is. Uber’s action of testing driverless cars in Pittsburgh is not illegal, but it is one in which should have had more consideration towards the population of Pittsburgh and whether every person’s consent was given or not. Regardless of how innovative a company is, ethics should be the top priority for every company.