Hacker News Reader

Comment by kklisura | Hacker News Reader

> I think it's very possible that we won't get self-driving cars because...

We already have self-driving cars: look at Waymo, etc. look at chinese ride-hailing companies. What we won't have is private-use self-driving cars: a regular person will not be able to buy one.

View on HN

Of course we will have private-use self-driving cars. Auto manufacturers will get that technology one way or another, either by developing it themselves or licensing it from others. If there's consumer demand then they'll sell it: Mercedes-Benz is already selling level 3 autonomous cars to consumers. Most regular people prefer to own (or at least lease) their own private cars so that they can go wherever they want whenever they want and keep some of their stuff inside.

In which case, it would be largely uninteresting for many of us.

I rarely take an Uber or a taxi (probably single digit number of times a year) and, even if it were half the price, that would be unlikely to change my behavior much.

You are thinking from a western mindset, my world is the center of the world.

That can change consumer behavior around you dramatically , for example cut car ownership ?

What I mean is that they'll be banned because people are dying / some viral incident causes public sentiment to turn against the technology.

But waymo does not operate nearly at the same degree as what Tesla FSD aspires to (anywhere, anytime).

While a good amount of functionality exists, the liability model and accidents are big road blocks to seeing this technology truly mainstream, not just select cities/routes/etc

> But waymo does not operate nearly at the same degree as what Tesla FSD aspires to (anywhere, anytime).

I aspire to be a trillionaire. Does that count for anything?

> While a good amount of functionality exists, the liability model and accidents are big road blocks to seeing this technology truly mainstream, not just select cities/routes/etc

Waymo just started service at SFO airport last month.

What’s your definition of mainstream? Everywhere anytime like an Uber?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com