I like the modern cars but not self-driving ones. What I like about them is that safety features, which is especially for beginners (like me), and some have app connect, and bluetooth for hands free calling, and play music.

all modern cars look the same to me... I like the older 80's and 90's models better.

"Welcome to Johnny cab"!, it will end up with Arnie ripping the computer driver out of the front and people doing it themselves!

A purely electrical connection between steering wheel and road wheels..? Really..? Not in any car I've seen, name me one.

I haven't heard of an electrical connection between the steering wheel and road wheels myself. I know that modern cars likely use electric power assisted steering however. The most recent car I've driven was a 2015 Toyota Camry that had electric power steering and the steering wheel itself felt very, very light to me.

Modern cars in the last twenty years or so have removed the traditional cable between the butterfly valve and accelerator pedal and replaced it with a drive-by-wire system that is purely electronic. My car doesn't have a cable connecting the pedal to the butterfly valve, instead it's all electronic. I prefer the traditional cable design over this electronic design since it has flaws. Fortunately there are failsafe designs in the drive-by-wire system where the vehicle will go in a 'limp-home' mode should there be a problem.

Yea BMW has done pretty good with their engine management system robustness. You can unplug or damage most of the sensors and actuators with the engine running. It might cut off when you unplug them, but it will usually crank back up and run. Very little is needed to keep it running and many times it can use some actuators and sensors to compensate for others that aren't working properly or missing. It's quite a smart setup. They want you to be able to make it back to the dealer for repairs lol. I don't know if it is still true as I haven't worked on one in a few years though.

I like the modern cars but not self-driving ones.

Well, there are no real selfdriving cars yet.
The experiments Google et al do are really just experiments, the technology may be used only as some form of (maybe very advanced, but still just) "driver assistant" - it may be given some control over the driving, but still require the driver for supervision.
And even that is quite long time ahead - present results are so, then if something like that would be "presented" by someone at driving test, it would mean test failure within three minutes. Regardless the marketing balooning about "safety of that driving style"...

Google translated article (Untranslated hebrew article) .

Sadly, there are going to be more innocent lives lost because of these stupid self driving cars and trucks. 

Yeah, well there was a incident with Uber and its self driving cars that one of them killed a pedestrian, while operating. I'm not lying, it happened in Arizona.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-driverless-fatality.html

No, I say stick to the steering wheel and pedals. I may not have car, well my gf drives me everywhere or I have a mountain bike to get everywhere
Although I've mentioned I have a 95 Civic I'm still paying it off and until I do it sits at the auto shop or the owners house

The more traffic accidents that caused by autonomous vehicles -> The more likelihood that this field would be abandoned and the more likelihood that people would avoid buy autonomous vehicle.

I haven't heard of an electrical connection between the steering wheel and road wheels myself. I know that modern cars likely use electric power assisted steering however. The most recent car I've driven was a 2015 Toyota Camry that had electric power steering and the steering wheel itself felt very, very light to me.

Modern cars in the last twenty years or so have removed the traditional cable between the butterfly valve and accelerator pedal and replaced it with a drive-by-wire system that is purely electronic. My car doesn't have a cable connecting the pedal to the butterfly valve, instead it's all electronic. I prefer the traditional cable design over this electronic design since it has flaws. Fortunately there are failsafe designs in the drive-by-wire system where the vehicle will go in a 'limp-home' mode should there be a problem.[/i]

A nice thick wire connecting the accelerator to the carburettor is the only drive by wire I want. 

Yeah, well there was a incident with Uber and its self driving cars that one of them killed a pedestrian, while operating. I'm not lying, it happened in Arizona.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-driverless-fatality.html

It was not the car, but the careless driver, who killed that pedestrian.


And by the way completely "nonselfdriving" cars are practically an extinct specie since at least 2000 (category 1; speaking about eastern Europe market; in the US it should have happened way earlier)
Andas far as I know, all new cars are or will soon be required to be equipped so they will be of at least category 2.

In other words: How many cars do not have a cruise control (category 1 - some driving tasks are automated, in this case maintaining set speed)
And the second means the lane maintaining assistant- that makes it at least cat2 (autonomous in some situations, needs driver supervision). Mandatory safety feature for new cars either now or in a year or so.
The Uber case was category 3, so autonomous in most normal conditions, but needs driver supervision. Theproblem was not the car didnt do the right thing, but because the driver failed to take over the control, my guess because being ignorant about the machine limitations and his duties behind the wheel. Mainly when it even was not yet full cat3, but only a development of cat3 - so even far from road worthiness as the cat3.

In some ways, I think that we are on the way to driverless cars.  I don't think driverless cars will ever be foolproof, and they should be able to be driven manually.  In fact, in a consumer review magazine I read, there are disclaimers about cars that are "self driving" by Mercedes that say something to the effect of self driving cars are a new technology and present new safety risks.

I am in the market for a practical, reliable, and affordable car, most likely a Subaru.  I am looking forward to all the high tech features like Bluetooth music streaming and phone calls, blind spot monitoring, and automatic braking.  Those kinds of features are activated when a collision or other risky situation is detected.  Thankfully, I have never been in a car wreck, but I would appreciate the high tech safety features all the more if I ever was in a wreck.  

Even though I am in the market for a practical car now, I do want a fun sports car someday.  I hope sports cars like the Audi TT, Mazda Miata, etc. never become self driving, because driving such cars is an experience.  It would be boring to sit in a self driving car and be passively transported from place to place.

A nice thick wire connecting the accelerator to the carburettor is the only drive by wire I want. 

I do not like unintended acceleration problems, so I would stay with the present electronic by-wire system.
Because I have experienced many times the mechanical cable becoming stuck in open position, where the engine continued to provide power even with ignition off (chemically assisted selfignition did ignite the mixture; too late for an optimal combustion, but enough to make the engine to deliver unwanted power). Of corse, it was not that big problem to stall it by brakes, but really nothing nice at all.
 With the electronic valve control the power switch off mean it always closes by a spring, with no linkage that tends to get stuck after some time. Plus the electronic injection just stops delivering the fuel, so even when the valve remains open, you are able to cut the unwanted power. But unlike with the carburetted mecahnical linkage throttle valve car, with the by wire I've never ever experienced any need to cutthe power in any other than a normal "pedal release" way.

Yeah, I looked it on Fox Busness Network, and yeah it wasn't the car that did the incident, probably a misprogramming of the "AI" (Artificial Intelligence) that didn't recognised a human walking on a crosswalk in a intersection.

This just shows you that how bad self-driving cars are, and yet can cause a hazard. Correct me if i'm wrong on this.  No offence, ok?