re: Availability of self driving cars to the public

quote:

---

That's a bit misleading, though true.

If I understand it correctly,

1. Virtually all the accidents in the study were minor.
2. Virtually, or maybe, all the accidents were the fault of the human driver.

---

Not misleading at all. Point 2 is not anywhere close to true. You also miss the issue of scale here. Running a red light or having a minor fender bender during testing under easy driving conditions means problems will be compounded as difficulty increases. Take the current error rates in these automated cars and insert them into regular daily driving on a large scale and you will end up with disaster.

quote:

---

So, should we stop making ALL new technologies then because it might be hacked? Great logic there!!!

---

Actually, yes. Breeding something that can be so easily removed from your control or placed into malicious hands, is stupid, to put it mildly.

Fix the cyber vulnerability issue first, then continue with the technology. You want to get on some altar and preach to everyone about safety but then dismiss this vulnerability. These automated cars can be driven into oncoming traffic, off a cliff, rammed into buildings, rammed into crowds, rolled over, or anything else one cares to do. It's a known vulnerability and you want to dismiss it. That makes you complicit in the problems that are sure to come and removes any credibility from your arguments.

And from a philosophical standpoint, the holier than thou desire to remove autonomy from people is never going to be accepted. You and others have not even begun to contemplate the level of obligation and control such devices will hurl upon people.

To think things like auto insurance will go away is profoundly stupid. For those that own these cars they will still have to have damage / collision insurance, personal injury insurance, and will be saddled with other burdens like software updates, road map updates, downloading weather info to the car, regular maintenance to verify tire pressure and engine systems etc are all in perfect working order - because we know damn well that manufacturers will declare they have no liability for accidents if some mechanical part is not right. They'll claim it throws off the working parameters and yada yada yada. So you can say goodbye to doing your own oil change, checking tire pressure yourself and on and on and on. And you can bet no insurance company will cover accidents or problems that can be blamed on a hacker, and manufacturers won't either. So consumers will take it in the shorts, of course.

It is 100% guaranteed the cost of ownership and insurance will go up.

Make this all voluntary and create a hybrid system and I think it's totally ok. Otherwise you're asking for trouble.