Autonomous

[rslade]

I'm at a conference on "Smart Cities." Lots of verbiage on IoT, etc. Last speaker of the day is pontificating on all kinds of security and technology buzzwords. And, at one point, he says that cities have to work on protocols for the provision of "autonomous vehicles."

Excuse me?

I mean, there are all kinds of transport and transit systems, and some of them involve a lot of technology, and a number of them will need provisions and protocols. But ...

What part of "autonomous" do you not understand? Autonomous means that it works by itself. It doesn't need your provision. It doesn't need your protocols. It is designed, as far as possible, to work by itself. That means your protocols are basically irrelevant.

OK, you can design some regulatory protocols if you wish. But you are one city. Even if you are New York, you are a small part of the vehicle market. The manufacturers are going to build what they think will sell. Worldwide. If you want to create a regulatory protocol, fine. Just don't expect anyone to care, if it gets in the way of functions or sales.