The graphic showing the platforms from Austin to SF shows a disturbing trend of these autonomous platforms getting bigger, and therefore more dangerous for those of us on the outside of these vehicles. I would love to see regulations capping the size and speed of these autonomous platforms to minimize the danger to the public.
Sure, eventually they might be proven to be safer than having humans behind the wheel, and then we can consider relaxing those regulations, but even then perhaps the standards should be higher, since they are likely to increase the overall number of cars on the road significantly - traffic will not discourage people from driving as much, if they are not in fact driving.
(FWIW, I would love love love to never have to drive again. I just want us to take a measured approach to getting there for safety.)
Considering that cars already kill people en mass there's no real advantage to slowing the pace of SDV development other than to make people feel warm and fuzzy. I personally prefer Tesla's approach where they give customers permission to go ham with their latest beta software. The quicker we get to L5 the quicker we can put the automobile safety nightmare to rest permanently.
Given that cars already kill people en mass, there's no real advantage to slowing down something that will likely 10x the number of cars on the road, or making those cars smaller and safer?
Sure, let's get to L5 as quickly as we can...without killing lots of people unnecessarily.
