> autonomous vehicles are in the basic scientific research stage. Autonomous vehicles have been virtually out of the "basic scientific research stage" ever sin

> autonomous vehicles are in the basic scientific research stage. Autonomous vehicles have been virtually out of the "basic scientific research stage" ever since Darpa's Grand Challenge in 2005 and 2007. While there is still a ton of research being done, most of it has been focused on refining existing solutions, or applying existing solutions into new problem spaces. For the most part, we know what is needed both in hardware and software to gain Level 5 capability, and for the most part we have working examples of all those functions. What is left is refinement. I also believe that Tesla is on the right path by using cameras for it's main sensor input (augmented by radar, and probably some LIDAR too). We already know that our road system can be navigated visually - it's inherently designed for this. In theory, radar and LIDAR shouldn't be needed at all, but just as they are useful augmentations for humans (in those areas that they are used - such as proximity detection on some vehicles), so they are also useful for self-driving systems.