[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I have a few thoughts on the subject.

I don't agree that letting a car drive you is practical. As a very wise person I know said to me this summer, "Robots are amazing, but god forbid they should drive me...".

However, I think you should all stop basking in how "unsafe and dumb" this technology is, and start considering the potential.

1) Assistance for those with disabilities
I am of the firm opinion that a mild disability should NOT prohibit somebody from being able to get themselves from place to place. A more controlled car environment could provide a very good place for those with some kind of physical disability, or perhaps a memory problem, to learn the road and some driving skills.

2) Drivers Education
As Sanddrag said very aptly, we should be teaching people to drive better, not to be bigger idiots on the road. An automated car in a control environment could be used to run road tests, train drivers for any type of situation, and many other things. Here is an example: Say the car is programmed to avoid certain obstacles. Say they then program it to react like a car would in a really bad rainstorm. Hello Driver Training in bad conditions, without having to simulate the bad conditions in real life.

Maybe that idea sounds ridiculous, but think for a second about the possibilities that it could have. I'm not trained as an engineer by any means, and before you criticize me about all the technical things, just use your imagination...and think of what cars with autopilot could help with.