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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3380 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 8, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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In 2010, the vibe (to me at least) was that self-driving cars had effectively been developed; by 2025, substantially all the cars on the roads of American cities would be fully autonomous (without requiring a human standing at-the-ready to take over in a crisis).

So what happened? Why, at least outside Silicon Valley, is my Uber cab still driven by a human? Do technical challenges remain in developing autonomous technologies? Is regulation / liability the major obstacle to adoption?

For my anecdotal two cents, it feels like it's a mix of legal liability and the great PR obstacle. Normies won't accept autonomous vehicles until the accident rate is zero, not merely slightly better than the average human driver.

Elon's chud arc may also be a factor in reduced enthusiasm.

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