Originally Posted by
rm -rf
I didn't read the linked article.
But slowing down a tech by the existing players doing a slow, incremental approach doesn't sound like it will work.
There's too much investment money that will
finance just
about any unlikely idea, even if there's no obvious way it will
ever pay off.
It will never pay off relative to keeping everyone driving their own human-operated machine. Why would the companies allow developments that could liberate people from personal car ownership? They will block it in every way that can, including creating the narrative of 'slow progress,' which is absolutely the best way to pacify change-seekers.
Self driving cars probably still can't drive in snow or even in heavy rain, and mostly are in areas that have been mapped and scanned in great detail. But google is ramping up
Waymo car access to the general public in Arizona.
I've said in past threads that they should focus on getting certain routes established as fixed transit lines, where the vehicles have been programmed to function like rail vehicles except without rails. They could even put sensors in the lane markings so the vehicles can follow them in rain, snow, or any other conditions. They won't do this because they don't want the public to see progress. They want to keep all the progress in the laboratory, so to speak, so that the public will not hesitate to buy new cars in hopes of being able to use autonomous ride-sharing any time soon.