A Heart That Waits for Technology — Gentle Thoughts on Self-Driving Cars
A few days ago, I read a blog post and felt a little heavy.
It was about self-driving taxis,
and it was full of lines like, “This won’t work, that’s a problem, and that company is going the wrong way.”
Of course, I’m sure they were speaking based on their own reasons and evidence.
But suddenly, I had this thought.
“Are we pushing the process of technology growing up too impatiently?”
🚗 Self-driving cars—why is it all so complicated?
A self-driving car is, literally, “a car that moves on its own without a person driving.”
A lot of people wonder, “When will self-driving cars actually be on the road?”
Right now, self-driving technology is divided into “levels”.
- Levels 0–2: The driver must always be involved. Things like lane keeping and automatic braking in today’s higher-end cars fall here.
- Level 3: Under certain conditions, the car drives itself, but the driver must be able to intervene immediately.
- Levels 4–5: This is true “full autonomy.” You enter the destination and it decides and drives on its own. In some cases, there isn’t even a steering wheel.
Companies like Motional and Waymo that we talk about now are testing exactly this Level 4 capability.
🌍 So why is autonomous driving so hard?
A self-driving car isn’t just “keeping distance from the car in front.”
- A child suddenly running out
- A broken traffic light
- Sliding on snowy roads
- Places where GPS doesn’t work, like underground parking garages
It has to judge countless situations like these “in an instant”.
Even people get startled—so the machine has to stay calm and think clearly.
That’s why it needs HD maps (high-definition maps), dozens of sensors, vision cameras, LiDAR, supercomputers…
All of these technologies are involved.
And naturally, that makes it expensive and complex.
🤔 But… “Why is that a problem?”
That blog post said:
“These systems are too expensive to use, and they don’t scale well.”
But here’s what I want to say.
“Of course that can be true right now.”
Technology always has to pass through an ‘expensive and slow era.’
Early computers, mobile phones, and electric cars—no one used them at first.
They were too expensive, performance wasn’t great, and they were even inconvenient.
But as technology accumulated, costs dropped, and people got used to it,
now almost everyone uses those technologies.
Self-driving cars will go the same way.
📲 “If you use the Uber app, is that dependence?”
They said that because Motional is integrated into the Uber app, it’s “a structure that depends on Uber.”
But I don’t see it that simply.
Early in a B2C service, partnering with an existing platform to test market response is a very common strategy.
And Motional is probably preparing to build its own app in the long run, too.
Saying you should have everything in place and jump in from day one… is a bit removed from reality.
🛰️ Are HD maps really that big of a problem?
Some criticize self-driving systems for relying on HD maps (high-definition maps).
They say, “Maps keep changing, and they’re expensive to produce, so there’s a limit.”
But if you think about it, that might be an overblown worry.
These days, mapping tech is updated from many sources—satellites, real-time cloud sync, and the vehicle’s own sensor data, too.
And it’s not like roads completely change overnight.
Isn’t declaring “HD maps are unusable!” a bit too dismissive of technological progress?
Reality tends to move toward “improving,” not “impossible.”
HD maps are evolving, too.
💸 A 200–300 million won vehicle—really too expensive?
I also heard, “If a self-driving car costs 200–300 million won, who would use it?”
But that feels like a view limited to a simple consumer perspective.
Right now, it’s the development stage + early commercialization, so being expensive is completely expected.
Computers and smartphones were expensive at first, too.
But as technology advances and demand grows, unit costs come down.
And self-driving taxis are an “automated revenue model”.
- Can operate 20+ hours a day
- No driver labor costs
- Lower maintenance costs
- Fares can stay at a certain level
With a structure like this, I think it can be valuable enough to recoup the investment in 1–2 years.
In big cities like Seoul or New York, payback could be even faster.
📱 You have to use a single app? That’s not so easy
Some say, “You need to use a single app to build up data.”
That might be true in itself, but… I felt there was a perspective that makes business sound too easy behind it.
Other people’s technology—especially platform-based software—is never free.
“Just make it one app” isn’t as easy as it sounds.
In real business, it’s often more realistic to trade technology, collaborate, or adjust timing to fit the situation.
Working with Uber could be a strategy to gain accessibility and market feedback first.
Trying to build everything alone from the start could actually be inefficient.
💡 Why did Hyundai Motor Group split into multiple teams?
There was also the claim, “One company should go in only one direction.”
But I thought this.
Hyundai isn’t a single company—it’s an “automotive group”.
It’s developing with various technology partners suited to global markets.
- 42dot: domestic tech capability + MaaS-based platform
- Motional: US-based + real-world self-driving vehicle testing
- In-group R&D: building in-house AI-based technology
That’s not “inefficiency,” but “strategic diversification”.
Not every technology has to move in only one direction.
🌱 The future of autonomous driving is quietly approaching even now
Autonomous driving isn’t magic completed overnight.
And whether a company gets there first or follows later,
technology will eventually change all of our lives, little by little.
Autonomous driving is technology, but it’s also a “philosophy of waiting”.
Even if it looks slow right now, it likely holds the sweat and experiments of countless researchers.
🛣️ Even now, technology is growing quietly, warmly.
👉 Go read the story about meeting TWICE’s Nayeon(?) with Nano Banana Pro
🌤️ In closing — “Waiting might be stronger than criticism”
I understand the concerns of the person who wrote that post.
It can feel frustrating when progress is slow.
But what matters more than that criticism is,
how we wait for technology, and how we choose to look at it.
Not rushing, and sending encouragement before blame.
Maybe that, too, is our “etiquette toward technology” as we live through this era.
Today, too, I’ll end this post by quietly cheering in my heart for the many self-driving cars
that are out on the roads, still being tested.
