If someone was to add their own ...umm... improvements to the software, or perform shoddy repair work on the hardware for steering, then there would perhaps be negative effects.

That's no different than the current situation. I can do anything I want to my car, even if it kills me and the people in the car ahead of me. Like not fixing my brakes correctly, or driving without brakes altogether¹.

¹ Which I have actually done, carefully, on my way to the mechanic 20 miles away to get them fixed.

> I can do anything I want to my car, even if it kills me and the people in the car ahead of me.

Actually no, and driving without brakes is a perfect example. Driving a car without brakes on a public road is a crime. Arranging approval for autonomous driving on public roads is an involved and highly regulated process. Hacking in your own "improvements" is similarly criminal.

It is definitely illegal, but there's nothing stopping anyone from doing it. I'm not saying people should do that, just that they can and do, with little negative effects.

I also acknowledge that handing control to a modified computer is a little different than manually controlling a modified car, and it could have much more disastrous effects. But I don't think anyone will actually do that.

(As for when I did drive without brakes that one time, my car had a manual transmission and a fully-functioning hand brake, and I was in full control of the vehicle at all times. I drove slowly and carefully along back roads, and kept a 100 m gap ahead of me at all times. I was well-practiced at down-shifting to slow down, and used to regularly come to a complete stop from freeway speeds down the ramp without touching the brake pedal, just because I could. And "no brakes" is a slight exaggeration; I had some brakes, but there was a leak and I didn't want to use them unless I absolutely had to, and I didn't have to. Would I do it again? Probably not, but I was young and willing to take minor risks like that.)

A broken killing machine that's 'intelligent' is a lot more scary than a broken killing machine that's dumb.

There's nothing possible for a self-driving car that isn't possible for a human operated car.

There's also nothing possible for a murderer that isn't possible for you or me, but I'd still be terrified about meeting one.

IMHO the manufacturers will come up with some type of safety certification for the software to run and part of that will be having a complete service history from authorized service centres. Self driving cars will be the end of self repair.

A lot of these risks apply to today’s cars already. If you change a tire and aren’t careful the wheel may come off later in traffic. I think there is way too much downside to companies maintaining tight control after selling something. Otherwise we are slowly converting the concept of “owning” to “renting”. This is pretty much the dream of capitalists. They own and rent things out to others.

Sure, but these risks are well understood and the owner tends to take special care if they do something. Would that be true of an auto-driver? Maybe.

I'm definitely of the "if you can't open it you don't own it" philosophy. I just think right now there is not enough care around auto-drivers by the companies making them, let alone the owners.

Didn't mean to derail the conversation, tractors are a whole different thing. No high speeds, no oncoming traffic.