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Comment by inglor_cz | Hacker News Reader

Narrow streets can be equipped with some kind of helping beacons one day, much like they were equipped with street lamps and canalization in the previous centuries.

Anyway, this is a fairly low percentage of the total street network. Even in Prague the medieval center is smallish (and many of those streets are off-limits to regular car traffic).

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> Narrow streets can be equipped with some kind of helping beacons one day

That changes the goal posts in my opinion. The “self” part of “self-driving” no longer applies.

I mean, many people can't drive without safety features all over their cars, GPS to help them navigate, and road signs to tell them where to go.

I don't see how "helping beacons" for robots are unfair but street lights are not.

Maybe I’m drawing conclusions about what these beacons would do, but if any of the things you mentioned stop working, I can still drive and won’t go full speed into a wall. I don’t have the same confidence in these beacons.

Why would a car that is having trouble orienting itself go full speed?

Software bug? I think you’re dodging the point a bit - going into a wall at any speed is bad.

Alternatively, say it has trouble orienting itself and slows down. That can be just as dangerous if cars behind you are going fast (e.g. a highway).

Does it matter? If investing in smart infrastructure is what it takes to recognize this reality, who is this a downside for? It's like saying we can't build any more intersections because we'd have to buy traffic lights.

I’m criticizing the “self-driving” term, which seems to be having more and more asterisks applied to it. What’s next, the cars will need tracks?

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