Driver assistance is easy, but it's much harder for robots to take over the whole job of driving anywhere at any time. What's coming first is autonomy on well-maintained roads in good weather. In August 2016, the Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, MI) confidently announced that by 2021, it would be mass-producing fully autonomous robo-taxis without steering wheels, accelerators, or brake pedals for use by ride-hailing services in geofenced areas. Others expressed similar hopes, but nobody will meet that target. Ambitious plans for rapid deployment of fully autonomous cars have run into unexpected problems, among them stopped fire engines, big white trailers, and highway barriers.
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