Unless these car systems are programmed at the level of rigor of the Space Shuttle or other "screw up and they all die" environments, the only group that's goin

Unless these car systems are programmed at the level of rigor of the Space Shuttle or other "screw up and they all die" environments, the only group that's going to "convulse" from computer-driven cars will be lawyers. And they'll convulse laughing. Is this how it should be, no. But it's how it is in the US at the moment, possibly in other countries as well. As people mention, if they don't behave as the rider wants or if they can't deal with unexpected situations (or mechanical failures) or if they're required to be always-connected and the net goes down… And I'm sure all sorts of privacy types would love being carted about with no control on their environment. Unless the net connection's also amazingly robust, the computer-driven kidnapping possibilities are endless. Oh, I didn't think computer vision's a solved problem… It's easy to lose the GPS signal in cities, and you can probably jam or spoof it without too much difficulty. Doubt cities are going to spend lots of $$ installing all sorts of "helpers" to deal with all that rebar.