I’ve often had the feeling that the FIA applies their rules in whatever way benefits Mercedes because...they’re Mercedes.

“Contrast this to the autonomous system that is monitoring a thousand different things, multiple times a second, and then making predictions that are only going to get better with time.”

Reflexes require processing - unconscious processing that is done so fast we don’t even consider it. And that’s my entire point! That the human brain does a lot more work than we consciously think it does, so expecting a relatively simple computer program to be capable of self-driving a vehicle in more than perfect…

It seems simple to use because humans happen to have really fast processing capability - your brain can operate so fast that it can pull your hand away from a hot stove before you even consciously feel the heat. Sometimes we take for granted just how much thinking we’re doing, and consider tasks simple when they’re…

Teaching the cars to do the legal thing solves half the problem, because not everyone is doing to be using them - some people will still be driving themselves through that intersection in their existing vehicles. A good self-driving-vehicle system (or any good system) needs to be designed for how people actually act,…

I’m a software developer by trade, and “we can find a way to program” it is an oversimplification. Sure, it’s possible to write code for every little scenario, but that takes a lot of time to write and a lot of time to process. A large part of my job each day is figuring out how to create software systems that can…

I’m a software developer by trade, and I can tell you that anything that seems “trivial” rarely is. You’ll need to consider weather history, road surface (paved? gravel?), road structure (surface road? bridge?) and any number of other factors that humans can think through automatically in a fraction of a second.

“This morning on my way to drop my kids off at school, the lights were completely messed up at a major intersection.”

Not just the future, we also have a really good intuitive understanding of the past that these vehicle systems likely don’t.

I’m guessing there’s no punitive action because the SEC thought their case might be a little weak - Musk could point to “Well actually, the number I cited was within the high-end of our official estimates.” So what the SEC settled for was a very-clearly-worded agreement here, knowing that if Musk breaks this settlement…

It’s like...some sort of weird Porsche Pana-Camero?

Or it’s a “you have the money to make do if there are problems with the car” thing. I could do that too and just spend more money when something goes wrong or I just don’t like it, but remember that not everyone can.

I took my EV (a BMW i3) to my local BMW dealer a couple month ago for service and they had to replace a part. Took less than an hour all told, not even enough time to convince the salesperson to let me test their new M5.

“Yes it does”

A scheduled test drive isn’t the same as test driving the exact car you’re considering getting. If I’m looking at a specific vehicle at my local dealer’s lot, I can drive that exact car that day. With Tesla’s system I’d just have to hope that they have a test-drive model in configuration I want to buy?

And a mobile…

That’s exactly my point.

There are still dealers in some places. My state has absolutely no Tesla presence. At all. The nearest one is two hours away.

And with a Tesla, you...can’t test drive it, might have trouble getting a refund even if you do return it in the 7-day window, might not have a service center in your state, and could have to wait MONTHS for repair parts to come in.

And any interest that loan accrues while you wait for your refund check!

I stand corrected. Thank you!