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Stopping humans from driving cars could save many lives. A million people worldwide, die in road accidents every year. Half are cyclists or pedestrians.

But I tend to believe Gill Pratt, at Toyota, who says he doesn't know how to make level 5 AVs, more than I believe Elon.

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A third of all fatalities are caused by drunk drivers. That's easier to solve than self-driving cars. Another big chunk are weather related, driving at night, driving while sleepy, etc. The median driver is pretty safe, there are better ways to spend money than building automated car toys for them to play with.

That may be a US number. Other places that have stricter drunk driving laws, or that culturally have less drinking, can also have much worse road safety.

AVs can also solve other problems like efficiency and surge-ability in public transportation. Not just a toy for the rich.

While nobody knows how to make a level 5 AV, we do know how to eliminate road deaths:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/how-helsinki-a...

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