Hacker News Reader

Comment by myoung8 | Hacker News Reader

Can anyone think of ways to speed the sociolegal acceptance of this technology?

At the end of the day, I have a feeling it won't really come down to lives saved even if that's how the media spins it. At the end of the day, it has to help pad the bottom line of one of the car companies and they will then have the incentive to lobby Congress and get the right regulations inserted into the right bills.

View on HN

Can anyone think of ways to speed the sociolegal acceptance of this technology?

Perhaps it could first get used by people who are visually impaired, or for some other reason are not able to currently get a driver's license.

Given the importance that being able to use a car to get places has on living a normal life (in most of the U.S.), one could then frame it as a human rights issue.

Once some people are using such cars, it's a much smaller step to allow other people to also use self-driving cars.

Once we have fully automated cars that obviously don't need the manual override features to be used, the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act says that it is unfair to deny those with disabilities that would prevent them from obtaining a driver's license the right to operate the automatic mode of such cars.

Age. There's a growing segment of the population who does not trust itself to drive (or is not allowed, if medical exams are involved in periodic driving license renewals).

But I'm sure they would like the freedom of movement.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com