Originally Posted by
cooker
Just track back and see. Roody (post 1519) said he doubted self-driving would work because of the cost of "sensors, AI and mapping". Maelochs (post 1522) replied that the "development and electronic tech" costs would come down. Neither of them was discounting the other costs of the vehicle.
It’s not a given that the cost of driverless will stay higher. In the meantime driverless will become irresistible like cell phones. For example if people don’t have to pay for parking or can at least get their car to go to a cheap lot down the street, others will look twice as it gets harder and harder to function without one.
Steering wheels and their linkage/controls/power steering pump and belts, turn signal controls, and various instrument panel interfaces eventually disappear. Granted the initial cost of software development and sensors will more than offset any such savings. But in the long term you eliminate the investment in quality apolstery/buttons/knobs/instruments/aesthetics and replace that with weightless (now free) AI and hidden computer and sensors (rugged and ugly) with the user interface being a touch screen, where the same hardware costs are shared by all its functions.
Not an obvious outcome and nobody can say today.