Unfortunately "Self-Driving Tech" is only in the headline and missing from the actual op-ed, aside from the one line, "So far, I’m unpersuaded." Self-Driving t

Unfortunately "Self-Driving Tech" is only in the headline and missing from the actual op-ed, aside from the one line, "So far, I’m unpersuaded." Self-Driving technology is a broad term that also includes active safety features such as emergency braking and pedestrian detection and avoidance. The TM3 recently won a 5-star rating in AU, in main part due to their performance on self-driving safety features. [1] Beyond the active safety measures designed to assist an attentive driver, the allure of FSD (Level 4 or 5) as a way to increase safety and reduce or eliminate fatalities is very strong. The NHTSA estimates that the direct economic cost of car accidents is $277 billion per year, but if you include the economic harm from deaths and injuries (pain and suffering) the estimate rises to $870 billion. Per Year. [2] What we have here is a trillion dollar cost of doing business that could conceivably be almost entirely eliminated with the right advances. That is just the benefit of eliminating the gruesome side effects of driving. With a technological solution, you don't just reduce cost but dramatically increase value, productivity, convenience, etc. That's roughly another trillion dollar proposition. A $2 trillion dollar annuity which pays in perpetuity, at 3% discount rate, is worth $2 trillion divided by 0.03 or roughly $66 trillion dollars NPV. That's the scale of the investment that would pay off if it resulted in a mandatory-use nationwide Level 5 autonomous driving system which could eliminate 99% of traffic accidents. By the way, if you can only eliminate 50% of accidents, and provide 50% of the productivity benefits, the annual savings are worth merely $16 trillion dollars. I believe Level 5 autonomy is one of, if not flat out the greatest challenge for software in the 21st century, and it is no less than a moral imperative to achieve it. IMO a significant portion of that investment is not to just somehow create AGI, but several trillion in infrastructure improvements, new standards and regulations, which allow an extremely advanced AI system circa 2025/2030 to be able to function at Level 5 nationwide on highways and local streets. There's no question in my mind that within 50 years we will look back and wonder how it was possible people actually manually operated these 2-ton machines. It's a bet against humanity to think otherwise. [1] - https://twitter.com/ANCAPsafety/status/1156060826404438016?s=20 https://twitter.com/ANCAPsafety/status/1156060826404438016?s... [2] - https://www.cooneyconway.com/blog/economic-and-societal-impact-zero-car-accidents-year https://www.cooneyconway.com/blog/economic-and-societal-impa...