Actually, I think it's so difficult because self-driving cars is an engineering problem rather than a human one. It's like ironing and folding clothes. Looks really simple, but insanely difficult to build a computer to do it, because the domain is one that our brain is well-suited for, but computers are not. If we see a squirrel add numbers, we see intelligence; but we are not much impressed with a computer adding numbers. If we see a computer dashing among the treetops we see intelligence; but we are not much impressed with a squirrel dashing among the treetops. Self-driving cars are imitating human driving, and the imitation is hitting diminishing returns because computers are ill-adapted for the domain. We'd probably get more ROI changing the roads (the domain) at this point.You are judging this accident from such a human perspective rather than seeing it from an engineering problem.
Completely agree that there are diminishing returns with regards to effort and that last few percent of full self driving. But changing our roads would be trillions of dollars and would still require new car tech. Full self driving will happen by the end of this decade.Self-driving cars are imitating human driving, and the imitation is hitting diminishing returns because computers are ill-adapted for the domain. We'd probably get more ROI changing the roads (the domain) at this point.