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Comment by true_religion | Hacker News Reader

We didn't used to drive. We used to fall onto our horses drunk and trust the well trained beast to carry us back home.

Yet somehow, we built our way to modern society from those humble beginnings.

Self-driving cars are a step backwards to a benefit we previously attained gratis from animals. For instance, in remote parts of the world where mules are still used for transportation, farmers on the mountain top load their mule with the days goods then let it navigate home (e.g. 'in take') all by itself.

Mules don't get lost, run away from danger, and feed themselves on their way to the destination. They navigate treacherous terrain and need no looking after on their way. If we had a truck with the basic intelligence of a mule, it'd be a godsend to industry.

A car with the intelligence of a palfrey---enough to not run into things, and maintain a smooth ride regardless of terrain/environment----would be an amazing luxury vehicle.

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"A car with the intelligence of a palfrey---enough to not run into things"

The transition into a world with only self-driving cars brings up the issue of pedestrians and other drivers with malicious intent. Your car is going 120km/h and someone purposefully jumps in front of the car; what does the car do? Or maybe other drivers would try to snake their way through traffic like an emergency vehicle by attacking this accident avoidance system vulnerability. Do we record all these instances on camera and report them automatically to police?

The car reaction time < smaller than yours it also has a better idea of it's surrounding and I bet could pick a much safer course of action than you in a .5 second time frame.

Accidents won't disappear but I do think that if a child jumps in front an autonomous car (lets say in 5-10 years) then that child has a higher chance to survive than if a human wild be driving that car.

Exactly. An autonomous car can make the decision to swerve into the empty lane next to you much faster than you ever could, if for nothing else than increased situational awareness. The sensors are monitoring a 360 degree view constantly, we are nowhere near that.

I'm interested in hearing how their system is expected to work in adverse weather conditions. I doubt that the LIDAR system would work in rain and snow, ice and other hidden ground features might be a problem, and I wonder how well their radar works in these conditions too.

No, privately owned horses were always a rarity. Walking was the dominant form of transportation in all towns and cities.

Cars are definitely great because they're easy to mass produce, and require far less maintenance than a horse. We're able to drive down cost on maintenance and production with replaceable parts---something that's a lot harder to achieve in a living organism.

That's what makes cars an ubiquity today.

Of-course I'm getting off topic....

Think about it though---a car with the intelligence of a horse but far more tame. Beautiful product.

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