[vhold]

We don't have to get to level 5 to start automating trucking. In fact level 4 would likely be better than many drivers on that road now. Level 5 is an ideal we probably won't reach for decades, self driving cars better or equal to the best most attentive drivers in all situations.

I think the level system is also a bit over simplified. Level 4 highway is very different from level 4 city, and level 4 highway would be enough to automate a lot of trucking.

[ghaff]

Sure. The levels are fairly general. There's a big difference between your operation domain being a section of 280 on a sunny day and it being any paved US road so long as it's not snowing. One is mostly just interesting R&D and the other is genuinely useful to a lot of people.

The problem is that it leads people to say we'll have Level 4 in a decade or less when they mean the former case. Whereas the sort of capabilities needed for autonomous taxis are decades away.