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The leveling system is a bit off. Level 3 doesn't mean "better" than Level 2. A Level 2 system might actually offer the best safety profile of any of the Levels. That's what I'm getting at: there's a lot of runway in Level 2 systems, and I think they'll be so good that it will kill momentum for Level 3+ systems.

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Yes. Eliminating or vastly reducing the head-on collisions caused by drivers drifting across the center line, and the rear-end collisions where they don't see the stopped or slow car ahead of them, are a huge win. I'd trade full self-driving for really effective lane departure warnings and auto-braking collision avoidance any day of the week. Next step (or included) would be reacting to red lights/stop signs if it appears that the driver is not stopping. Deal with those things well and you've eliminated the causes of most serious accidents.

The problem is that when a level 2 system gets too smart it can confuse drivers and lead to bad reactions in response.

e.g. let's say you have a level 2 system which starts auto-evading, suddenly steering without user input, the user is likely to reflexively try counter-steering in response.

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