No self-driving cars coming anytime soon – The Wall Street Journal
DUBLIN – Some technology companies, including Google, Uber, and Tesla, have been pushing the narrative that self-driving cars are right around the corner. Despite the complete lack of evidence that self-driving cars can safely and reliably handle the range of traffic conditions that plain old humans can, we've been promised autonomous vehicle tech within a decade or two. But it seems that reality may finally be hitting some of the pioneers in the driverless space. After the death of a pedestrian at the hands of an Uber self-driving car and a series of horrific accidents in cars using Tesla's Autopilot system, tech pioneers are dialling back their claims. The truth is, we still have no way to teach computers how to recognise everyday objects other than showing them millions of images of the objects – an impractical approach for the world's millions of kilometres of road. We don't even seem to have sensors that can reliably see as well as our eyes in different light conditions, a vital first step in building self-driving cars. Driving is a complex task that frequently poses never-before-seen challenges for drivers. Until AI can make decisions and react in human-like or better ways, you're safer with a regular old human driver. – Felicity Duncan
By Christopher Mims
(The Wall Street Journal) Mercedes-Benz unveiled its dream of a fully autonomous multipurpose vehicle this week. The announcement was full of buzzwords—the modular Vision Urbanetic "enables on-demand, sustainable and efficient movement of people and goods" and "reduces traffic flows, relieves inner-city infrastructures and contributes to an improved quality of urban life."
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