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The thing I like most about the promise of self-driving vehicles is that, when they actually get to a point of real maturity, the cost to manufacture and put th
by dclowd9901 14y ago
The thing I like most about the promise of self-driving vehicles is that, when they actually get to a point of real maturity, the cost to manufacture and put that tech into a production vehicle won't be significantly greater. We're talking about plugging into the ECUs, which already take metrics for vehicle dynamics to aid with ESC and other systems, coupled with what is, in essence, computers and IR sensors. The rest is just software.
In actuality, the self driving vehicle should cost us no more than $5k-$7k more on top of the cost of the vehicle.
- the_cat_kittles 14y agoSeems like it would almost be worth subsidizing purchases too, since they reduce costs coming from driver error.
- iwwr 14y agoNot just driver error, but it reduces the need for everyone to own a car. Self-driving cars can move themselves to where they're needed, rather than sit in a garage waiting for their owners to use them.
- vladoh 14y agoThere is unfortunately still a long way to go in cost reduction. The 360 degree LIDAR (Velodyne) that Google uses (the rotating thing on the top of the car) is the most essential sensor, but costs about $80000. Other autonomous cars also use quite expensive technology like laser scanners and so on. Unfortunately it is not as simple as only IR sensors :)