If railroads were invented today they would never be allowed. They can't stop for miles? You have to teach everyone everywhere to stay off the tracks? How's that supposed to work?
It's good that our safety standards are a lot higher today for new tech, but perhaps there are a few common sense rules that could be taught, rather than requiring perfection?
I think the analogy to railroads is a bit tenuous. There are immediate benefits to connecting two sufficiently separated points with a rail line. A single stretch of properly marked and instrumented roadway is relatively worthless[1].
[1] Trucking being a potential exception.
Ultimately humans cannot match the senses of an automated car, the problem is in processing and integrating. Which we are pretty far away from solving in a general case.
https://youtu.be/B8R148hFxPw?t=148
What the car is in essence doing is driving by GPS and maps while staring at its feet. It is not as bad as driving with your eyes closed, but it's not that much better.
Further, some of the infrastructure it is relying on, like lane markings, are very poorly maintained.
Yes, let’s rely on a single sensor.
> - plenty of cities with no or very little snow
But plenty of city have plenty of snow. So perhaps not a deal breaker in a limited set of circumstances.
> - construction zones: blacklisting, remote monitoring & manual mapping, detection of cones, barriers, re-painted lanes
Why should we add to already high construction costs just because the self driving tech isn’t up to snuff?
>- self-driving cars with 360 degree view and plenty of patience and no distraction are safer for bicyclists than manually driven cars
Citation?