Where is demand for autonomous?

TO THE EDITOR:

Being in automotive sales, I spend much of my day discussing the future of the industry, not with outside experts or pundits, but with people who are involved in the consumer side of the industry every day. In our discussions, we don't see an interest in, or a desire for, autonomous vehicles.

Despite this, billions of dollars are being directed toward this technology — billions of dollars that I feel could be directed toward making the internal combustion engine powered vehicles of today more efficient and desirable. It seems that the people who have very little to do directly with vehicle sales are deciding the future of the industry, without input from their customer base. Is it possible this is a colossal waste of time and money? What are we missing?

CHRIS DARE, Appleton, Wis. The writer is a salesman at a dealership.