[robogimp]

Ugh, this article sounds like the Lexus brand trying to latch on to the google self-driving hype train. Hey guys we are making a cool car too!

On a more important note: do we really want all the different tech companies and car manufacturers competing to build separate driverless software and standards? Looking at how well that worked out for online maps, doesn't make me feel safer.

[nothrabannosir]

Do you mean that Lexus developed this on their own? Because they didn't; Google's initial autonomous car prototype was a Lexus. The dingy small ones are their new fleet, using different hardware but the same software.

Iow this was all Google.

[robogimp]

I didn't know that, thanks.

[Crito]

Is it really reasonable to expect any automotive manufacturer who wants to remain relevant to not start working on self-driving cars?

You can't seriously expect this to be "just a google thing".

[unfamiliar]

I think they were more implying that the software that makes the decisions should be common to all of them. That way we don't allow individual car manufacturers to make potentially fatal mistakes when cutting corners with their software development. I think at the very least there should be a standardisation, so that there can be some communication between cars to aid in resolving traffic jams and other uses.

[robogimp]

I am not arguing against competition, I am saying it would be nice if all these cars inter-operated seamlessly, co-ordinating with eachother or centrally rather than each car having a different set of parameters trying to figure every other car out on the fly.

If the goal is safety then a wild west with every company setting standards for their own projects isn't going to be the best approach. If the goal is profit then Yee-Haa let the gold rush begin!

[panic]

do we really want all the different tech companies and car manufacturers competing to build separate driverless software and standards?

Diversity is good. If everyone used the same software, it would all have the same flaws. Competition also provides an incentive to make the software better.