[bradleyland]

Werner Huber says it best in that video from The Verge. If we're going to have self-driving cars (and like it or not, we are), they need to be able to bring a car back from the very limit of the control envelope, not just drive under perfectly safe conditions.

I'm of two minds when it comes to self-driving cars. On one hand, getting from A to B is something I must do, not something I always want to do. The drive from my home to the airport is a mind-numbingly boring 2 hour commute. I'd rather be doing something else. So in these situations, I'd welcome a self-driving car. However, driving a car is still something I enjoy tremendously when I want to drive. That's why I bought a BMW, right?

My hope is that in the future, if automated driving is mandated, it will only remain so in highly urban areas where cars pose a real problem. I wouldn't want to be forced to use the self-driving feature on a country back road. I'm optimistic that this is the future we're headed toward. Very few people enjoy driving in Washington D.C. traffic, but many people still enjoy a drive down a back road. I think that influence will temper politician's desires to turn cars in to nannymobiles.