Promising Autonomous Cars with Fixed Hardware

I recently test-drove a Tesla Model X, which was the first time I had ridden in an all-electric vehicle since my neighbor drove me around in his pre-production EV1 in the 90s. The Tesla experience cemented my view that the hype around electric vehicles is well-founded. However, a point of contention arose when the sales representative asserted that the vehicle has all the hardware necessary for full-autonomy. This assertion is ridiculous for several reasons, but perhaps the most convincing argument for general audiences is to appeal to biology.

Saying some set of hardware is capable of solving a heretofore unsolved task is similar to saying a set of biological faculties (a brain, eyes, etc.) are capable of solving an unsolved task. Simply put, a chicken has all the hardware necessary for full-autonomy driving-- you can't prove me wrong...and maybe that's the point.

(Bonus chicken "playing" tic-tac-toe).

A collection of Uber autonomous vehicles parked outside the Uber Advanced Technology Center in Pittsburgh. I was in town for a technology festival and speakers were treated to a facility tour and a ride down one of the most complex streets in Pittsburgh. The vehicle handled itself admirably, but I have yet to see evidence of any autonomous vehicle that can handle the full range of variation present in a road system built around the reasoning capabilities of humans.