Why Are People Afraid of Self-Driving Cars?

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From article, "These 20 companies are racing to build self-driving cars in the next 5 years"

(Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in late October that cars currently in production — which includes the Model S, Model X, and future Model 3 — will be built with new hardware that will enable them to be fully driverless, pending regulatory approval and further software validation.

It's a smart move on Musk's part — equip the cars with the necessary technology now so they are ready once self-driving cars gain federal approval. Musk said a Tesla will drive itself from Los Angeles to New York City as a demonstration of the technology by the end of 2017.

Musk has been committed to having a fully self-driving car ready by 2018.)

Me, "It is Regulatory approval that has stymied development of self-driving cars. No one ever thought a car could drive itself. That's the problem. Everybody grew up watching the coyote chase the roadrunner and watch the coyote constantly fall off a cliff in failure. Well, that's the fear. No driver wants that to happen to them. Everyone agrees there needs to be rules governing the use and adaption of self driving cars, but no one is sure what they should be so they over regulate or delay these new rules which delays roll out of the product. So, far this has benefited car companies who are still working on the technology but sooner or later it is going to start becoming a problem. A solution is to equip the cars with the technology and enable it later, as Tesla us dong."

Continuing from article, (Uber released Ford Fusion cars modified with the company's self-driving tech as part of its Pittsburgh pilot in September. A select few Uber users can hail the cars as part of the program. But the cars still have a safety driver as well as an engineer up front because they do fail from time to time.

Uber and Volvo have also agreed to a $300 million alliance to develop driverless cars. Uber has made a play for the self-driving car space by poaching staff from Carnegie Mellon University's robotics department.

Uber also acquired self-driving truck start-up Otto in August. The self-driving truck completed a 120-mile route in October.)

Me, "Uber's use of some self-driving cars in its taxi hailing company shows that Uber believes there is a market for safe self driving cars. They continue to provide a back up human driver just in case. Once again coyote falling off a cliff fears!"

Continuing from article, (Chris Urmson, former head of Google's self-driving car project, suggested during a March 2015 TED Talk that he and his team were working on a 2020 deadline for its self-driving car. But Google's self-driving car program has suffered from executive departures, and Google co-founder Larry Page reportedly said he was heartbroken by its slow pace, according to Bloomberg.

Google is taking a different approach from other automakers in that it isn't looking to roll out semi-autonomous features overtime, but produce a fully driverless car without a brake or steering wheel. Bloomberg also reported that some Google teammakers have pushed for partial automation, but Page is set on releasing a fully driverless car.

The cars have driven over 2.3 million miles in autonomous mode as of November.)

Me, "Probably the most famous self driving cars on the road comes from Google. Most people trust and know Google from its internet search engine. Now they want to be the first to have a fully autonomous self-driving car. Besides the fear of the car going off of a cliff and the ex-driver not being able to do anything about since there is no steering or foot pedals, there is a fear that Google may not come out with a car at all but will instead concede defeat and like Apple, partner with a brand name car company. 

The problem here is two fold. 

While Tesla is a very high end car company it can afford to add a self-driving option. The people who buy their cars have the extra money for it. Uber, a glorified taxi company, is trying to court the low end market of people who can't afford or choose not to drive. Google, drivers thought, might court the middle class driver. Now depending on what car company they partner with there technology may end up in the hands of the rich for years until it migrates down into the bare bones models. This uncertainty may lead the middle class driver to stick with regular driving cars and forgo even trying a self driving car being that it is out of their financial reach. 

The last quotes from this article let's you see how soon you have to start worrying about driving off a cliff."

From article, (Toyota is looking to have a driverless car ready to go by 2020. BMW will test 40 of its self-driving cars in Munich next year. Volvo is aiming to make its cars "deathproof" by 2020 by rolling out semi-autonomous features in its cars, eventually working up to fully driverless ones.Nissan is committed to have a commercially viable autonomous car on the roads by 2020.Ford is aiming to have its fully autonomous car ready in four to five years.General Motors has partnered with Lyft to build electric, fully driverless cars that will be available to just about anyone.Daimler, the maker of the Mercedes-Benz, is aiming to have its driverless trucks ready by 2020.The Audi A7 drove 550 miles by itself in 2015, but there's no word about when it's hitting the market.Baidu, a Beijing-based search company, is aiming to have a commercial model of its driverless car ready by 2018.Honda is aiming to produce cars that are completely driverless on highways by 2020.Hyundai is aiming to have driverless features in its cars by 2020, but won't have a fully autonomous car ready until 2030.Auto supplier Bosch has been working on driverless technology for several years with the ultimate goal of releasing fully driverless software within the decade.PSA Groupe, the second largest car manufacturer in Europe, is aiming to have fully driverless cars ready by 2020.Start-up Faraday Future is working on an electric car and is developing autonomous technology for it.LeEco, a Chinese tech company, is also working on an autonomous, electric car. Apple has reportedly ditched its efforts to build a self-driving car, instead turning its focus to autonomous software.Didi Chuxing, Uber's former fierce rival in China, is also building a self-driving car, but details on the project are scarce.)

Me, "So, get ready. If you haven't seen or ridden in a self driving car, they are coming. I'd pack a parachute."