One person can build something that starts a revolution. See Woz/Apple.
The real issue here is that self-driving cars are probably the wrong place for that to happen in AI. At best, a solo project creates a crappy prototype where there was no product before (again, see Woz/Apple). The expectation for driverless cars is too high – they need to be 100% good, because your life is on the line, not 80% good.
What's the AI project that would blow people away, even if it was a shadow of a working prototype? I think that's the real question.
The real issue here is that self-driving cars are probably the wrong place for that to happen in AI. At best, a solo project creates a crappy prototype where there was no product before (again, see Woz/Apple). The expectation for driverless cars is too high – they need to be 100% good, because your life is on the line, not 80% good.
What's the AI project that would blow people away, even if it was a shadow of a working prototype? I think that's the real question.