[rob05c]

> Recognize that BMW/Daimler/et al really don't want true self driving cars.

They don't have a passion to, but they must. Capitalism forces companies to adapt to competition, even when it isn't in their individual self-interest. BMW has to, because if they don't, Toyota will.

Companies make necessary self-defeating choices all the time. Newspaper companies have websites. Barnes & Noble sells e-books. The Empire made the Death Star.

I think Capitalism is a pretty broken concept, but I think this particular facet of it tends to work.

[joenathan]

> Capitalism forces companies to adapt to competition

Only in theory, in practice this sort of thing happens: http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/november/lcd-price-fixi...

[runeks]

It should have read "Competition forces companies to adapt to market demand". Fortunately, there's a lot of competition in the automotive industry; less so in the production of LCD panels.

[pyoung]

Well, they could start shoveling money over to politicians and lobbyists in order to create regulatory barriers to new entrants. Not exactly 'capitalism' in the truest sense of the definition, but certainly a common practice in our version of it.

[hammock]

Innovation does emerge from the competitive forces in capitalism, but it doesn't have to come from the old companies (and usually doesn't). B&N sells e-books, but it was a new market entrant, Amazon, that brought the innovations in e-books and readers