George "Geohot" Hotz, PlayStation and iPhone hacker extraordinaire, has canceled production on Comma One, a $1,000 aftermarket add-on that he said would allow some cars to operate semi-autonomously. He claimed the tech was "about on par" with Tesla's Autopilot and it used cars' video feeds to navigate the roads. It was due to start rolling out at the end of this year. But, after receiving a special order from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today, Geohot decided Comma One wasn't worth the paperwork. Geohot said on Twitter that the special order opened "with threats" rather than an attempt at dialogue.

Legendary iPhone and PlayStation hacker George Hotz (aka "Geohot") isn't wasting time translating his DIY self-driving tech into something you can buy. His Comma.ai startup plans to release a semi-autonomous driving kit, Comma One, before the end of 2016. The 999 upgrade combines its camera with your car's existing front radar (read: it won't work with every vehicle) to relieve you of some control during your drive. It's "about on par" with Tesla's Autopilot, Hotz claims, and reportedly good enough to take you from Mountain View (conveniently, Google's HQ) to San Francisco without touching the steering wheel or any pedals. The secret, Hotz adds, is that Comma One gets data from its video feed.

The reason Hotz is telling me he's an idiot -- while dressed out of character, no less -- is that he set up test drives for reporters in Las Vegas without doing all of his homework. He didn't realize that Sin City doesn't use white lines to outline lanes. Instead, the state uses raised markers called botts dots instead of paint. That's a problem: The Comma test vehicle has never driven on roads with bumps instead of paint. Hotz was so worried about this that he barely slept the night before.