The self-driving snow job:

I read article after article about the car companies pushing self-driving cars and whether or not they are safe, what are the insurance implications, where do state legislatures stand on the issue, etc. etc. etc. What I NEVER see is whether or not ordinary consumers want the darn things, and if some do, will they be willing to pay the obscene cost it will undoubtedly require?

Hey There: Maybe this will help. :)

AAA: Consumers May Not Be Ready for Autonomous But They Want ADAS: http://www.glassbytes.com/2016/04/aaa-consumers-may-not-be-ready-for-autonomous-but-they-want-adas/

We forget the opportunities Self driving cars gives people.
Freedom for those who may not be able to drive.
Blind, disabled etc.
We need to look to the freedom it provides others not the control we are giving up.
Then we will begin to see what is really possible.

C2, I guess I never realized that taxis, busses, Uber, trains and planes were obsolete. I appreciate through your comment that some poor soul blind person with no money who cannot afford a cab will be able to purchase his own self-driving car. Thank you.

There's also the simple question of whether the technology itself is ready, not just us.

Article from June below, many others available on the same crash. A Tesla owner and fan, didn't think or decide to "take over" when the car failed to recognize a semi truck turn in front of him.

I can see or understand (pardon the pun)how the car/technology may have looked beneath the trailer thought it was clear, and made a fatal error by trying to auto drive beneath said trailer. But the news articles seemed to indicate that Tesla and the software mfg thought that the DRIVER should have taken manual control back when the car was "fooled" by the white bright color of the trailer, not being able to distinguish it from the sky. There were many videos posted by the owner driver on YouTube of him in the car in self drive mode and how impressed he was with it while weaving through traffic, over hill and over dale many times, before his death. In other words, he seemed to love it, at least up to that point.

As I age, I find myself being more and more careful and less and less daring when I drive. I don't know if it's because I know my reaction time is slower than in my youth, or I've just had enough close calls to convince me that my luck has to be running out. (like kids running out in front of me from between parked cars, or the youngster the other day, 6 years old perhaps, that skateboarded right across the street in front of me and never slowed or bothered to check traffic in either direction. Thankfully, I was watching her)

I think that the technology needs a LOT MORE testing before release to the public, and I'll bet lawsuits will decide the fate of this tech, not us, not the businesses that make it, nor the consumer's that want it. THAT'S the world we live in.

JMHNLO


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/business/self-driving-tesla-fatal-crash-investigation.html?_r=0

How ironic that moments after my last post about the Tesla self driving crash, I find this on Glassbytes. lol

Tesla Motors Enters Car Insurance Business

http://www.bidnessetc.com/72795-tesla-motors-enters-car-insurance-business/

JMHNLO

This reminds me of when the Segways were first introduced years ago. All kinds of discussions about dangers and liability, licenses, and all that stuff. The bottom line was that some police departments and a few companies bought them, but the general public was not interested in paying the ridiculously high price the inventor wanted and it simply died as far as consumers were concerned.

Technology way ahead of real world situations--- a cop on the side of the road signals cars over to the side because of some emergency. And these wondrous vehicles are going to do what? The techies can anticipate every eventuality? Ya, right. It will become a litigation lawyer's wonderland.