Most Stressful Job on the Road: Not Driving an Autonomous Car

Safety drivers have critical job of backing up the computers that largely control the vehicles

For a job that is supposed to involve limited action, being a test operator in a self-driving car is surprisingly stressful.

With their hands loosely around the steering wheels and right feet at the ready, test operators are trained to take control and swerve or hit the brake when their robot cars act erratically or encounter something unexpected, say current and former operators for Uber Technologies Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo.

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