True self-driving is freedom from responsibility

Larry Salibra reports that Pony AI's robotaxi service in Shenzhen has become convenient enough for regular use, with wait times down to 3-5 minutes, allowing him to relax without monitoring the vehicle. He contrasts this with supervised retail systems like Xpeng's XNGP and Tesla's FSD, where drivers remain legally and financially responsible, arguing that true self-driving requires legal, financial, and ethical shifts to free owners from responsibility.

technology https://larrysalibra.com/tag/technology/ True self-driving is freedom from responsibility I was taking a Pony AI robotaxi around Shenzhen this evening with my dad. Until the post month, I'd only take a Pony AI robotaxi to experience the technology or demonstrate it to visitors. The reason is that, up until recently, there weren't really enough vehicles in the fleet in Shenzhen, so you'd often have to wait 15 or 20 minutes for a vehicle. Now the wait seems to be down to 3 to 5 minutes. That doesn't sound like a lot, but you can usually get a Didi China's uber that's within 1-3 minutes of your pick up location. And even that isn't fast enough to compete with Shenzhen's oversupply of taxis...there's usually an empty taxi or taxis waiting wherever you'd like get a ride or an empty one driving by. The thing about showing visitors robotaxis is that you end up very focused on the uniqueness of the experience. But now that they're convenient enough to use regularly, I found for the first time tonight that I totally stopped noticing that it was anything out of the ordinary. I could relax and shut my eyes or look something up on my phone without worrying if we are going to hit something or someone or safely arrive at our destination. I've also used retail self-driving products like Xpeng's XNGP, Tesla's FSD and others Nio, Zeekr, etc . These are usually called "supervised self-driving" features because the driver has a legal obligation to monitor what the cars are doing and take over in the event of a problem. While the driving quality and safety seems close to that of a robotaxi, you never get that ability to relax: because you're legally and financially responsible for the car and any problems or deaths that it causes. Monitoring a self-driving car is just as much responsibility as driving it. In fact, it might be even more responsibility than driving it, because not only do you to know what's going the road and predict problems the might occur, you also have to predict which actions the car might take that could cause a problem. It's very similar to being the skipper or person in charge of a yacht. The crew's job is to drive the boat and trim the sails - the skipper's job is to monitor and manage - but if something happens to the boat, ultimately the skipper is responsible even if someone else was driving. With retail self-driving products, you are the skipper and the car is the driver. To change this dynamic, besides technology improvements, which will come, there needs to be legal, financial and ethical changes such that we the cars owner are no longer responsible for any problems our cars causes. Until that happens, it doesn't matter how good the self-driving technology in our cars are, we'll still carry the burden of responsibility. And freedom from responsibility is what we ultimately want from self-driving.