Is the Personal Self-Driving Vehicle for City Streets a False Early Dream?
Today, self-driving technology is aimed at specific niches such as urban robotaxis, delivery, trucks, or freeway driving. Most major players, except for Tesla, don’t focus on a general personal robocar – a car that consumers can buy and drive them from door to door in city streets, or on most roads. Tesla is far behind the other teams and barely counts to many in the industry even though it gets most of the press. The robocar dream is still pursued by a few startups, but the thinking has evolved.
Despite the perceived dream, this is not what is being built or released by the industry for some time. You may have to wait a while before you are able to buy your own car with this capability, not only because it is difficult, but also because the money doesn’t flow in that direction. Some people have concluded that robocars will be a long time coming. They also believe that technology is still many years behind expectations. Some people hoped or expected a faster timeline, while others didn’t.
It was created by non-developers at a time when the technology wasn’t mature. It’s counterproductive and largely useless, but it is still often used by people who are desperate for a taxonomy. Leading teams (mostly technology companies, not auto OEMs), do not adhere to these levels or use them. These levels are mainly used to discuss the diminishing role of humans in self-driving cars, similar to a document on the role of horses in a horseless carriage.
Source:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradtempleton/2023/06/19/is-the-personal-self-driving-car-for-city-streets-a-false-early-dream/?sh=4e7a9bcf7b6a
