Electric and Self Driving cars will be Great....IF they work. I made a career of fixing electronics, and there was Never a shortage of things breaking down, to keep me very busy. The more that "technology" is added to vehicles, the more these vehicles will have problems....often Very Hard to diagnose and fix properly. The average mechanic has very little training on all this Gee Whiz stuff, so when it fails, the repair time and expenses can be quite high.
We have a Chevy Impala that gets minimal use, and a few months ago, I noticed the battery not holding a charge very well. Since the battery was over 3 years old, I replaced it. That didn't fix it....I still had to drive the car at least once a week, or put my charger on weekly. I hooked up an ammeter to the battery, and found a fairly high current draw. One by one, I removed the dozens of fuses, and finally when I got to the OnStar fuse, the draw ceased. Even though I never activated OnStar after the warranty, that "AP" appears to still be functional, and GM has reprogrammed that option to be active 24/7 for "location" purposes. I suppose that "perk" would be good if the car was ever stolen, but I don't need it when the car is in my garage Needless to say, that fuse is now in the glove compartment....and the battery can sit for days/weeks with minimal drain.
A couple of days ago, the news reported a Tesla almost striking a couple of cops along the highway, responding to an accident, and wrecking. It turned out that the driver was watching a movie, while the Tesla was doing the driving. Swell!!
IMO, the Only technology advance in recent years that is worthwhile is the transition from carburetors to fuel injectors. Much of this other stuff is more likely to cause driver inattention and contribute to more accidents.
