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Comment by GalenErso | Hacker News Reader

> Since the EU is a valuable market

For how long? A market is large because it has highly productive economies. If Europe can't hack computers, as you say, their growth potential will be curtailed.

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> Europe can't hack computers, as you say, their growth potential will be curtailed

European industry is alive and well, and it can buy the tools it needs from American companies. To the degree "Europe can't hack computers" is less of a ridiculous oversimplification, it's with pertinence to the consumer market.

Is it really alive and well or is it mostly booking profits for activities conducted elsewhere in the world? How much R&D, manufacturing, or distribution do the ABBs and Siemens of the world actually depend physically on the EU for?

> How much R&D, manufacturing, or distribution do the ABBs and Siemens of the world actually depend physically on the EU for

European heavy industry expertise is deep [1]. It also undergirds a lot of America production; Rheinmetall, for instance, designs and builds the M1 Abrams’ gun. In light industry, ASML is the product of a distributed precision manufacturing culture.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_European_man...

They could make other things and trade them with the people who do computers?

The EU has a higher GDP than the US (albeit they're very close). A lot of strong engineering comes out of Europe, for example Arm or the self-driving work by Mercedes.

(I did not downvote the parent comment.)

> The EU has a higher GDP than the US (albeit they're very close).

In case anyone was curious, the IMF currently believes that the US's GDP is 50% higher than the EU's = 40% higher per capita.

https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/EU https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/USA

You're right per capita, but as a total market the EU is larger.

It's literally not though. EU has a higher population and lower total GDP.

You’re right, I was looking at 2015 data

US GDP per capita: $75K (PPP), $75K (nominal)

EU GDP per capita: $54K (PPP), $37K (nominal)

It's not even close.

Waymo is years ahead of anything coming out of Mercedes.

Which cars can you buy with Level 3 self-driving in the US? What states allow Waymo Level 3+ driving? Yes I can get around the SF Finance District if I sign up to be a beta tester with Waymo, and they do run in Pheonix, but Mercedes has full Level 3 signed off in Nevada. In fact Mercedes have said they will take ownership of self-driving accidents while Tesla for example points it to the individual driving.

We're talking about the engineering capability, not how the product is monetized. If a company had flawless L5 but it was exclusive to millionaires driving cross-continent, it would be impressive engineering albeit a niche business.

>Mercedes has full Level 3 signed off in Nevada

I wonder why they're testing in Nevada and not the EU. Could it be that the EU stifles innovation with its strict laws?

Or maybe it was actually started to roll out in Summer last year in the EU?

Mercedes Level 3 cars expected to be priced at $50k, competitive with Tesla.

https://etsc.eu/europes-first-cars-with-level-3-automated-dr...

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