> But that's not really the right analogy. I know it's not the right analogy, that's why I used it as an example of what you proposed, i.e. "I think of it like

> But that's not really the right analogy. I know it's not the right analogy, that's why I used it as an example of what you proposed, i.e. "I think of it like a format war. The winner isn’t usually the one that is the most technologically advanced." The point being, in normal "format wars", people are willing to take certain tradeoffs because the stakes are low - I'm willing to be cheap because the difference in video or audio quality or whatever is negligible to me. That dynamic doesn't exist with self-driving cars. If one system is able to drive just .5% better, I'd pay a ton more for that because my life is on the line. And it's not at all like Waymo is building a "hand-crafted mechanical watch" - they're building a system with better sensors to provide a better experience. I sincerely doubt leaving out these sensors will ever lead to a safer experience.