The problem though is that many people are willing to trust themselves much more than a machine for something as crucial as getting home safely.
We can all argue we want how theoretically machines would make traffic more safe, but people's SENSE of comfort and security depends a lot more on feelings and an established bond [of trust] than many nerds who just find the concept cool and are naturally more willing to give this a chance would like to believe.
As for myself, I'm a bit like that, but mostly I just want to drive myself because I can and want to.
I enjoy being a driver a lot.
Glassed Silver:ios
I drive. A lot. The last 15 years, I have covered almost 400k miles. I have driven different vehicles in very different conditions. One could say I have got experience.
I consider myself a pretty good driver, and not because I can get very good lap times at the Ring (I can't), but because I've never been in an accident, and avoided quite a few.
What I'm not so keen about when it comes to autonomous cars is that I have 25 years of driving experience, something that I make use of every day, and so does any other careful driver. Assess situations, try to predict how the traffic moves and act accordingly. A self driving car will be no better than the people programming it and even then, the "thinking ahead" part and "what if" part is not as easy to get right as to keep in lanes and avoid obstacles. How about detours? Perhaps the have to build some temporary roads to move traffic around roadworks. That sure is no easy task for a self driving car. For human driver that is no problem, but for a computer program controlling the vehicle using sensors.
There's a reason this is part of the macOS EULA:
E. YOU FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE APPLE SOFTWARE AND SERVICES ARE NOT
INTENDED OR SUITABLE FOR USE IN SITUATIONS OR ENVIRONMENTS WHERE THE FAILURE OR
TIME DELAYS OF, OR ERRORS OR INACCURACIES IN THE CONTENT, DATA OR INFORMATION
PROVIDED BY, THE APPLE SOFTWARE OR SERVICES COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY,
OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE
OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR
TRAFFIC CONTROL, LIFE SUPPORT OR WEAPONS SYSTEMS.
I know it's "standard stuff", but still. Software for self driving cars has to adhere to different rules. Not so easy to weasel out of liability.