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Originally Posted by combustiblefuel
Being heavily involved in the Ev community I wholeheartedly disagree. We are talking about 2 very different things in tht statement. Ther is A.I. vehicles out there but thwy are at least 25 years away before introduction to the public consumer market at a reasonable purchase price. We are only just making leaps in battery chemistry to power the electronics let alone program them to auto run. The himan element in these machines will be essential for at least 2 decades.
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25 years away? They're coming in at similar times as far as serious penetration. I'm very aware they're two different concepts. But they're arriving relatively simultaneously.
Even if Tesla can hold true to it's word with the model 3, then 500,000+ new EV's on the road still doesn't represent much. It would take about 10 years to hit 50% penetration of there were no more combustion engines to purchase. All the technology exists now to make EV's equally or more functional compared to the combustion engine as proven by Tesla. However, for costs to be comparable, batteries and manufacturing has to get to a similar scale. That's happening as we speak. This is a much larger hurdle though than creating a program to drive a car.
All the technology to have self drive cars currently exists. Everything. Mapping technology is already there and high definition GPS maps are already being made. All of the hardware/sensors required currently exist. Proof of concept has already shown it can be done. Google says 3 more years until the technology is ready, Nissan's CEO says they will have a self drive car available by 2020. Heck, by next summer, most Tesla model S's will be largely autonomous.
The only serious roadblock (pun not intended), is regulatory. All it takes is a few jurisdictions to pass laws and it will spread quickly. I don't foresee this as a hurdle.