[Viffermike]

All of you peeps who are arguing the points that other peeps are offering only solidify what I believe will happen -- or not, as the case may be -- with autonomous tech:

We will not see widespread private use of fully automated cars within the next generation (20-25 years) in the U.S.

glennQNYC 's post reviewing some predicted liability aspects of the technology bear this out, as well. It basically points to three major things:
- Younger operators will be more likely to sue (this is because suing has become part of the social fabric here, and insurance won't get within five car lengths of a business with a rate of litigation above a certain point)
- Autonomous cars will only be affordable by the upper classes precisely because operating costs, i.e. insurance both personal and corporate, will be inordinately high. (This is why I believe the technology will only become widespread in commercial vehicles such as government-run public transit and some delivery and taxi-type services)
- Civil libertarians will raise absolute holy heck, as will social and fiscal conservatives. Autonomous vehicles may very well reduce fatalities and enable the elderly and physically challenged to be more mobile, but they would also reduce freedom for others. There is no happy-medium tradeoff.

Hey, the tech's great. But I've said this in other threads: The only way it becomes affordable, viable, use-able, and socially accepted on a mass scale is if it operates at a near-perfect level -- and the hardware and computing power to make this possible is not even close to being enough on a portable scale -- and if it allows for a certain amount of personal freedom.