Originally Posted by
I-Like-To-Bike
Can you name the concern(s) ready to run a fully autonomous vehicle on public roads without a driver/moniitor? Is this going to be a vehicle even remotely close to being a vehicle that could be manufactured and sold for a price that anybody would pay, or is it going to be a million dollar prototype that can only be driven on specially selected roads under favorable weather conditions with all testing data and results controlled and held tightly by the concern(s)? Unless, of course, some unfortunate member of the public is killed during the demonstration and the local police chief is unable to whitewash the accident in favor of the big pocket concern.
I have no idea what the answers to all those questions are. Such things will be resolved in time and as I have no real stake in this I'm not concerned with how much time or what the resolution ultimately may be. This is not something I follow closely, but Waymo, GM and a few others have announced a desire to launch this year and I expect someone will make it. All the internet arguing points aren't especially relevant to that. The vehicles exist and have been tested enough to safely(probably) pull off a limited real world pilot program. Beyond that, I'll just watch and see what happens.