And how would that fare against something like decent public transport?

Let me guess, cars are king that's why we should sacrifice our kids to their cold hard steel bodies. /s

No seriously. This saving money doesn't mean they should be allowed to cut corners. If you truly want self driving you should be behind not using public roads as experimental tracks (with all the fallout that could come from that).

You say this as if it were fact, when it's really speculation of a possible future. Not unfounded speculation, but speculation nonetheless.

In the meantime, in the here and now, these things are obviously hazardous and shouldn't be on the public roads. Even if they would lead to a better future, no company has the right to endanger unconsenting others now to accomplish it.

>You should care because it will save the average western family ~$5k/year and reduce the 1.5million fatal accidents and >10million serious injuries that result from car crashes worldwide.

When? What's the social cost to affording these companies public spaces to test their products?

Self driving barely works in the US as it is. Go to a country where there are billions of people and shoddy infrastructure. Those places will take even longer to get self driving cars. And as it is now, those places are overcrowded with vehicles, and many of them have the majority of people on scooters and motorbikes. If all those people end up in cars, it'll be the end of those places, as congestion will be completely unbearable. There just isn't room for more cars in most places around the world. So I'm not sure how self driving cars will end all accidents world wide, other than clogging the roads up so badly, that nobody will want to go anywhere.

Waymo's tech is way better and they do think about safety vs Melon where everyone seems to be a gimmick geared towards drawing attention.