With Autonomous Cars, It's Time to Realize We're Trying to Solve the Wrong Problem

They roll in weekly. We watch them. We rub our hands together with schadenfroh glee.

I’m speaking of Tesla Autopilot crash videos.

Like a train wreck, we seem unable to avert our eyes from videos depicting the Silicon Valley darling’s sheetmetal kissing concrete dividers and other animate and inanimate objects. Time and time again, owners of Tesla’s Autopilot-equipped Model S and Model X vehicles throw caution to the wind and let the computer issue orders in situations when it’s imperative there be human intervention.

And it’s not going to change — not tomorrow, not ever — until we alter course. That’s because we’re trying to answer the wrong question when it comes to autonomous mobility.

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  • Canam23 I really like the Rivian, but no matter what it's payload is, it will be completely weighed down by smugness if they team up with Apple.
  • Fed65767768 Good Christ, no.CP.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X The main advice I've heard is to stay away from the BMW engine.
  • Rna65689660 For Los Angeles, this is super cheap housing. For it surely will be not going anywhere very often. Park it at Wallyworld for 3 days, then move to the next lot.
  • MaintenanceCosts This is half a car, because half the time it will be in the shop.