Stick to the Stick.

• Date: 21 August 2017
• Author: Acunto, Steve
• Published date: 21 August 2017
• Author: Acunto, Steve

While I really dislike overly self-referential articles and TV guests and hosts--like Geraldo Rivera on FOX and Joe Scarborough on MSNBC--I will start this column on a personal note: I drive one of the few--maybe the only--Porsche Cayenne in the USA with a manual transmission, or what was called a "stick" back when I learned to drive in Italy on an Alfa Romeo Spider in the late 1960s. I have always had a stick shift in my cars. Perhaps that might explain why I have EXTRA reservations, or over-skepticism, about so-called "autonomous vehicles." That is, I actually feel that I drive my car something like a pilot who must actually navigate with only some key instrument panel help. So when Governor Cuomo announced a few weeks ago that Audi of America Inc. was approved to perform an autonomous vehicle demonstration in New York State, I did not feel so positive. Earlier the Governor had announced that New York would now accept applications from companies interested in testing or demonstrating autonomous vehicles on public roads.

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