The state of self-driving cars: 2018

Correction: The drone shot at 3:30 is Philadelphia, PA. not Phoenix, AZ. Thank you Matt McGuffin for the find.

[thesidburgess]

Huh. You provided no evidence to support your claim that this is all a very long way off. In fact, you showed examples of how companies are pushing forward rather quickly.

[marcoferrari]

The speaker seems to ignore that self-driving cars are not intended for sale to individuals
but to mobility services.

GM, Waymo, Uber or Mercedes with Car2go are preparing fleets of vehicles to provide mobility in high-density city.

In America the car will still remain a status symbol and a necessity due to vaste suburban agglomerations
but in Europe, made of medium-sized and very dense cities, these fleets will replace private cars.

It all starts with RoboBus and RoboTaxi like the pods already presented in Las Vegas.

[MattMcGuffin]

That drone shot of "Phoenix" is actually of Philadelphia.

[TheVerge]

What do you think is the most exciting thing about self-driving cars, and what's the thing you're most concerned about? Comment below and let's get the conversation going. -Andy H

[Ryukachoo]

keep in mind "what if they're only for rich people" is sort of a misnomer because it ignores the used car market.
cars hang around for a very long time before entering total non-use. think like 15 years for even the most disposable cars, much longer for others.
so a proper level 4 autonomous mercedes S class might start at 100k, but it'll change hands many times over the years and get cheaper each time it does

[mitchell.]

The Domino's part where they took out the pizza is funny. Like you would put the pizza boxes in the heat bag for about a minute just to walk them out and take them out of the bag to put the pizza boxes into the car.

[swng]

Was it necessary to have that shot of the guy talking through video chat on your laptop?
Why not just take recording of his talking and put it directly on the screen?

[CarFreeSegnitz]

Taxi business model means far fewer vehicles to provide mobility to more people. The current vehicle fleet is immobile for between 90 & 95% of the time, parked in a driveway or parking lot. To expect 100% utilization is unrealistic but 40 to 50% is completely doable, a 400% improvement at least. So go ahead and make vehicles 3 or 4 times more expensive, the economics will work out.

[chriskarath]

No articles/stories ever talk about snow, or heavy rain.

[jmullet]

Pretending Tesla doesn’t exist is not going to work

[therolando]

Show me a self-driving car that can drive in straight line in variable snow conditions that the North frequently sees and I will believe in it.

[Victor]

"And by 2020, we'll be seeing cars without steering wheels or padals"

yeah well, how is that working out?

[krishnamohan]

2020 cars without steering wheels? Yeah you're getting ahead of yourselves..

[polaris]

they always say "less traffic" when talking about driverless cars. How can they reduce traffic exactly?

[bartoszskiba]

Just when you learn how to drive and the world tells you the driverless cars are coming soon... what a party pooper

[Drog]

Everyone I've seen who predicts a long delay on this tech based on the current state seems to misunderstand a fairly important concept that's highly important in this case: The issues at play are all software at this point. Software can and does improve much faster than hardware, and if you're talking about neural networks the improvements can be exponential between generations. Likewise, the hardware is pricey right now, but as things improve on the software and computer vision ends, the level and amount of specialized hardware required will shrink rapidly. 5 years ago these systems barely functioned, and now there are a couple notable, though admittedly expensive, fully certified level 4 successes. We're talking 5-10 years before we start seeing massive shifts. Maximum.

[DavidWilliamsaz]

The picture of Phoenix isn't Phoenix. Where in the world did you get that picture from?

[randknutson]

Cars on the market with no steering wheel or gas pedal in 2020... that doesn't seem too far away to me!!! lmao

[whitmanwirthlin]

When you show Pheonix -- That is actually Philadelphia.

[marknick]

The thing is that who cares if they cost 100k+ to own a self-driving car tbh who would want to own one I'd much rather get in a self-driving taxi then own my own self-driving car because first off in the long run if you pay 50-100k for a self-driving car and it last you lets say 10 years before you buy a new one lets do some simple math if your daily commute costs 3.50$ per day because remember the more companies are competing in the space the cheaper it will be to get in a self-driving taxi because at the moment the biggest cost to taxies are people and once u get rid of those you can make it really really cheap not even including that in 10 years electricity will be dirt cheap so all the companies will need is matinance for the vehicles 3.5$x3650 days you get 12, 7k in 10 years and that is much cheaper then buying one yourself even if you take long trips across the country in a self-driving taxi im sure it won't cost more then 200$ for a really really long drive but its still much cheaper in the long term not to mencion the safety part of it. Point is self-driving cars will be: safer, cleaner (if they are electric), cheaper, self-driving trucks will deliver things much faster thus boosting the economy much more, they will save millions of lives, they will eliminate traffic in 50 years the mentality will change about self-driving cars people will be weirded out why ur not using them. If you will drive your own car it will be looked down upon almost like smoking is at the moment. SELF DRIVING CARS ARE THE BEST.