Well.... my first instinct was to stay silent--I don't follow that instinct very often so then I went to instinct number two. Try to refreame this whole matter in a way that ignores the rather obvious racial overtones. I am a very biased person. My bias however is to avoid dualistic definitions at all costs because these definitions almost never lead to good solutions or even to solutions that can lead to good solutions. However let me try to put a far more productive frame around this and ask for some of us to suspend our thoughts at least for the next few paragraphs.
Imagine you and a partner are going in to buy a car. One of you loves black cars and the other likes white cars. If you use a dualistic framework and believe the solution must be a compromise that only offers the elements of black and white then you'll be driving off helot either in separate cars, in your old car, or a gray car. Gray is the only compromise color and maybe neither of you can stomach gray.
Okay Now that's silly you say.... two people might like those colors a lot but they can get beyond this dualism and still come out with a car they can live with.... right? Maybe a blue car or a red car or even one of those really bright yellow cars?
Well here is where I'm headed with the news that some sensors didn't identify certain skin colors as well as others. Why leave it up solely to the car? Wouldn't it make sense to have a back-up plan for identification for humans. How about a wrist band that sends out a signal that a person is approaching. Oh and that solution might also work for people who are using white canes or who access the world using wheelchairs. Or lord forbid we have that capacity for baby carriages or wagons or bicycles. Successful cohabitation of transportation has to have communication that goes beyond the capacity of one sensor and even if that sensor can be improved (which it will be) why can't we look at this as an opportunity to solve a number of potential challenges.
Anyway we have existed in the car/people world by making eye contact with each other, by use of a subtle wave, by a nod of the head and so many other methods....we can outsmart s sensor with another sense--or... The common sense--or
Okay I have said my piece and my peace. Let's try our best not to make this a dualistic racial story because I don't want to read a headline that says "minivan in Grand Rapids charged with Hate Crime."
We are better than this treatment I have seen in the news with the inference and innuendo.... let's look for solutions and not divisions.
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