Everyone will benefit from self-driving cars, but to varying
degrees. Society, from a safety standpoint, benefits from
eliminating some or all of the 34,247 motor vehicle fatalities per year. The
elderly and disabled can benefit by regaining independence.
Commuters can benefit by turning their dreaded drive to work into a
relaxing or productive session they look forward to. But what about
car manufacturers?
Car manufactures may potentially benefit the most from
self-driving cars. Assuming that they develop safe, fully
autonomous robotaxis, then a car manufacturer may be able to
operate the car as a robotaxi and potentially generate ten times the sale price of a vehicle
over the life of the vehicle. But before this can happen, a
company has to produce a fully self-driving vehicle at a reasonable
cost. From a hardware standpoint, a key challenge is sensor
technology. Lidar, a critical sensor for autonomous cars that can
bridge the deficiencies in today’s camera and
