Driverless Hype Collides with Merciless Reality
I think a lot of people in this field did see this coming. I knew a few people in this space about a year ago and I pretty much hear: &quot;realistically, 15 years out at the earliest.&quot;<p>I really really hate the concept of a driverless car. It&#x27;s an incredibly difficult problem space; and for the same cost, America could build up municipal rail and bus infrastructure to where they were in the 1940s&#x2F;1950s. We need more cities like Seattle with its rail expansion and fewer New York City where the infrastructure is finally getting money so it doesn&#x27;t fall apart.<p>There are already so many tax breaks going into driverless companies. If Alphabet or Here want to do this on their own, go for it; but governments around the world should stop giving tax breaks and municipal incentives for this technology.<p>I can see it being more useful in Europe, where so much of the country is connected and it&#x27;d help sold the last leg problem. But in most of America we need to get back to the point where cars are no longer a necessity, not just for those who can afford to live in the city, but all the people who are barely making it who&#x27;s lives fall apart if something on their car breaks.