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Honestly, for me, it's for driving pleasure, and for having the choice. If I’m kicked off the bus at some remote location, and all I get is an old Volvo Amazon veteran car, then I’d like to be able to drive it around. And where I’m from, you can only do that (legally) if you have the right license, which is the license for manual “stick” drive. Other than that, it’s far less about logic, and more about the feeling of control and mastery that it gives you. True, this feeling is largely more inefficient and more prone to failure than an automatic system, but that feeling, man; that feeling is just so great! I also live in a wintery country, with many winding roads, hills and mountains with diverse weather and road conditions. The argument was made that it’s better to drive “stick” under these conditions. However, I’m not sure the argument that manual is better for diverse conditions will hold for long, given the current advent of better AI. I’ve already seen AI drive in very hilly and adverse terrain in the Hollywood Hills, rife with bushes hanging over junctions and pedestrians popping in and out of parked cars, and so on. Naturally, not much ice up there, but that’s a pretty difficult landscape for an AI to master, and the AI already masters it pretty well! |