[melloclello]

I expect in the short run we'll see different tribes of self-driving cars - say Google vs. Uber - who will actively communicate cooperatively with their in-group, but actually compete against the out-group, depending upon whether or not their host companies decide to cooperate or not.

In the long run, I expect cars to become smart enough to be self-owning, in which case it's every car for himself.

[carussell]

We can see today that the automotive industry is receptive to regulation, even at the expense of competitive edge, when the thing being optimized for is in the name of safety. I imagine that even if there is a pattern of the sort you describe, it will be limited to the adolescence of the whole thing.

If we get sufficiently far out (decades in, after human-driven cars are completely gone, not just out of obsolescence, but due to being outlawed at least for certain areas), I'd bet that what we'd see are demands for compliance that resemble the restrictions on automakers that we have now. I imagine that the driving programs would eventually be in the hands of some regulatory agency, with municipalities being allowed some control of the parameters.

[melloclello]

You're probably right, this is a far more realistic scenario. I have a bit of a soft spot for dystopia.