As someone who commutes 35 miles twice a day, I can't wait to have a self-driving car. But I don't see how a car with no steering wheel is viable given today's infrastructure. What happens if I'm in a snowstorm and the lame markings are occluded? What happens if I need to drive down a dirt road or driveway? It seems like most drivers will need some way to take over from time to time...
This makes sense. GM is partnered with CMU for self-driving technology. VW, BMW, and Mercedes have in-house efforts. Ford has had an in-house effort, but needs better technology. Google doesn't want to build and operate auto plants; the margins are low and their stock would decline.<p>Chrysler's head of engineering once said "We will have steer by wire and brake by wire over my dead body".
Smart of Ford to partner with Google on this IMO. Besides Tesla who seem to know what they're doing, I find it pretty strange that most(?) other auto companies seem to be basically going it alone on autonomous driving with an (understandable) complete lack of know-how when it comes to software (think, e.g., Toyota with its 80K or however many global variables).<p>I was listening to a radio program (KQED's Forum [1]) where they discussed the California DMV's new proposed regulations for self-driving cars, and from the point of view of someone who isn't insanely arrogant about humans' ability to safely operate cars, they seem quite draconian and luddite-ish. Google made a statement about these proposed regulations that echoed my feelings, but Audi was on the program defending the regulations and claiming anything approaching fully autonomous driving was a couple of <i>decades</i> away. This seems to indicate that they are at least a decade behind Google who claim they're already there or will be within ~5 years, so it sort of blows my mind that they wouldn't be trying hard to partner with them or another firm (perhaps Uber?) that actually understands software (and particularly AI).<p>[1] <a href="http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201512180900" rel="nofollow">http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201512180900</a>
As an employee of another car company all I can say is:<p>Damn!<p>Similiar to Tesla, Apple and Google are quite far away from the degree of industrialisiation the automotive industrie has today. Without this you can't build millions of cars cost effectivly. Also, cars are immensely complex in all the small things that need to be engineered deligently. So, that move makes greatest sense.
Guys, this will be coming sooner than we think! I know a lot of other schools and companies are doing research towards this. I shared this one because I feel like it's most likely to happen the soonest.