[Retric]

Level 3 actually lets you take a break while driving. L2 systems don’t and therefore IMO don't provide significant benefits.

More range and more driving conditions just don’t matter here if I can’t read a book on the way to work then it’s not self driving just advanced cruse control.

[srockets]

You can read a book on the way to work. Before going fully remote, I did it every weekday, using a magnificent piece of technology called public transit.

[Retric]

And level 5 beats level 3, however I don’t have any public transport options on the way to work and nobody is selling level 5 self driving cars. Mercedes hasn’t mapped my roads either, but that’s a lower barrier than getting nationwide public transportation setup.

[srockets]

And this is the why I think pouring money on autonomous driving is a net negative for most but a small group of shareholders: a public transit infrastructure is expensive, but the net benefits are immense, and can be had today.

Every dollar spent on private cars reduces that infrastructure, and that's not just my own thinking, but also that of car manufacturers, as evident by their lobbying to derail public transit projects.

[Retric]

It’s different pools of money.

Further I don’t live in a city so my local government has zero interest in public transportation beyond school buses. We just don’t have the density where it makes any sense. When I did live in a city the issue wasn’t drivers it was the inability to scale roads for local demand. Self driving cars don’t change anything about that equation.

[kwhitefoot]

Not really. Mercedes say you have to be able to take over within ten seconds.

[Retric]

10 seconds after a warning which is plenty when your reading. You do need to stay awake, sober, and in the drivers seat but that’s not a big deal.