Ford to skip past level-3 autonomy because its engineers kept falling asleep

I want to believe a level 4 vehicle is possible but it feels too much to me like the flying cars if the 1950's. Even if the technology gets 99.9% of the way there who is going to assume liability for the car packed full of kids being sent autonomously to school?

This liability could potentially extend to literally decades and is what killed small private plane manufacturers in the US. In the 1950's it was assumed that the families "third car" would be a small private plane and the biggest challenges would be how to get around once you'd flown there (hence the need for the flying car. Today a Plane like the a Cessna is outside the reach of middle class families because of liability costs. Each Cessna sold has to factor in liability costs for every plane still in the air. It's the reason that prices for decade old planes appreciate over time.

The only market that I can see a level 4 vehicle being viable (assuming its possible) is fleet vehicles for taxis and where and for how long they operate can be strictly dictated and the private vehicle market would be left with very advanced driver assist.

Let's be honest, everyone with a long commute using one a self driving car will be asleep. Level 3 was just for legal reasons to even be able to road test a car.