Disclosure:  I work at GM; these are my opinions only; I don&#x27;t work on SDCs, just very interested in them.<p>I don&#x27;t think it&#x27;s the tech (as such) that matters so much. I think the attitude, approach, and discussion matter much more.<p>For instance: Google has said, for now, we can&#x27;t have drivers in the loop and call it a self-driving car (see Tesla etc videos[1]). That makes a lot of sense, but its also very limiting.<p>Airbus et al have not figured this one out (Air France 447[2]) - Perhaps automotive scale will provide more effective tools for managing attention and skill.<p>There are so many difficult non-technical discussions to overcome in this market - liability, user tracking (location history and habits), information leakage, failure modes (should I honk and flash lights if my human doesn&#x27;t take control), aggressiveness settings (if the car is not going fast enough, the user will take control back), and many more, I&#x27;m sure.<p>Technical issues are going to be easy compared to the human issues. I think Google is addressing this by having an explicitly limited approach for now.<p>1. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnet.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;this-is-the-stupidest-misuse-of-teslas-autopilot-yet&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnet.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;this-is-the-stupidest-misuse-of-tes...</a><p>2. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Air_France_Flight_447" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Air_France_Flight_447</a> - Junior pilot did not understand that he was in a stall, possibly due to very low actual controlled flying time.