[kalleboo]

Autodriving 90% of the time would be a fantastic feature.

Autodriving 100% of the time is where it gets revolutionary (mass-layoffs of truck drivers, taxi drivers, summon features that park cheaply outside of downtown).

The former is great, but there's a lot of hype going around right now so it's not strange for people to be cynical.

[nullc]

I think anywhere between 80% and 99.999% would cause a lot of accidents... "good enough to not pay attention and be inattentive when it needs your help, not good enough to not need your help."

[IanCal]

It depends on where the 80% is. If it's "80% of the roads in the country" that's one thing, if it's "at random points, at any time and on average for 20% of your journey you'll be taking control" that's another.

It's all about predictability. Even just full motorway / major road driving would be pretty awesome, and the car would know when it's coming up to a section you need to drive and you can have plenty of warning. Not "HELP DRIVER I SAW EITHER A LEAF OR A CHILD QUICK TAKE OVER"

[Spivak]

If I have to pay attention to the road while the car is on autopilot then it's basically useless -- I might as well drive the car just for the stimulation.

If/When it's good enough that I can sleep during a long highway trip (and pull into the last rest stop before my exit if I don't wake up) then I'll be happy.

[rebuilder]

Forget parking, the cars would be driving, ferrying people and goods around, as much as possible when not charging. No need to own one, just hail one when you need a ride.

[kalleboo]

It will be interesting to see how people take to not owning cars. People like customizing their spaces, and I can see people with young children not wanting to deal with all that setup multiple times a day...

[bb611]

That's practical, and for people like you and me who aren't bothered by the idea of not owning our own vehicle, but it's very culturally desirable in the US to own a personal vehicle. Not an unsolvable problem, but it will definitely be a bump in the road.

[zobzu]

i don't think its an issue. live in the city? dont own a car. just like today. uber is way cheaper than owing a car.

live in the gonnies? own a car. hailing one would take forever. having cars near you in the gonnies,that you dont own wouldn't be economical.

basically, there would be less vehicule owners but not that many less.

[rebuilder]

I do wonder how many people living in cities would still choose to own a car if they could just get a self-driving one on demand.

For example, friends of mine recently bought a summer cottage. It's a little over an hour's drive. They don't have a car, so they currently rent one or try to borrow one when they want to go there. Once there, the car will probably sit still for a week.

Currently, there's no really good solution to this. Renting is expensive if you just need to drive a couple of hours a week. Buying a car might make more economic sense in the long term, but it's still pretty expensive for the purpose. Taxi rides like that cost an arm and a leg too. But if the car could drive itself out of the woods...

Of course it's a question of pricing, and I'm guessing we're still some way off from having self-driving cars navigate dirt paths that pass through people's yards as is the case here.